When Shanti (name changed) was wheeled out of the operation theatre of a city hospital, she felt as if a huge weight had lifted off her, literally. For the past 18 years, the 56-year-old from Devgadh Baria had been carrying a tumour which had grown to weigh 47 kg – just 2 kg less than her current body weight. Adding abdominal wall tissues and excess skin that doctors removed during the procedure, the total removal weighed 54 kg.
“We could not weigh the patient before surgery as she could not stand straight. But after the operation, she weighed 49 kg,” said Dr Chirag Desai, surgical gastroenterologist with Apollo Hospitals. “The removal including the tumour – in our parlance retroperitoneal leiomyoma – weighed more than her actual weight. This happens rarely.”
Talking to TOI, the woman’s eldest son said that she was living with the tumour for the past 18 years. “Initially, it was not this big. It started as unexplained weight gain in the abdominal region. Thinking this was due to gastric trouble, she first took some ayurvedic and allopathic medicines. Then, a sonography in 2004 revealed it to be a benign tumour,” he said.
In a remarkable medical achievement, a 56-year-old woman from Devgadh Baria, Gujarat, underwent a life-changing surgery at Apollo Hospitals, Ahmedabad, to remove a massive 47 kg tumor that had been growing in her abdomen for 18 years. This non-ovarian tumor is considered one of the largest ever removed from a live patient in India.
The patient's ordeal began nearly two decades ago with unexplained abdominal weight gain. An initial surgery attempt was aborted when doctors discovered the tumor was entwined with vital organs, including the lungs, kidneys, and intestines, making the procedure too risky at the time. Over the years, the tumor continued to grow, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, it nearly doubled in size, leaving the woman bedridden and in constant pain.
A multidisciplinary team of eight doctors, led by Chief Surgical Gastroenterologist Dr. Chirag Desai and including Onco-Surgeon Dr. Nitin Singhal, General Surgeon Dr. Swati Upadhyay, Anesthetist Dr. Ankit Chauhan, and Critical Care Specialist Dr. Jay Kothari, undertook the complex four-hour surgery. The tumor had displaced several internal organs, including the heart, lungs, kidneys, and uterus. Preoperative preparations included specialized medication to manage the patient's blood pressure, which had been affected by compressed blood vessels. Due to the tumor's size, standard imaging equipment was inadequate, necessitating modifications to the CT scan machine to obtain accurate diagnostics. Shanti’s blood pressure had shot up due to squeezed blood vessels. She was given special medicine and treatment a week prior to the operation to prevent her from collapsing when blood pressure dropped due to the removal. A team of eight doctors, including four surgeons, were part of the operation that lasted for four hours.
Post-surgery, the patient's weight dropped from an estimated 96 kg to 49 kg. She expressed immense relief and joy at regaining mobility and the ability to sleep peacefully. Dr. Singhal noted that while fibroids are common among women of reproductive age, such extreme growth is exceptionally rare, marking this case as a significant milestone in Indian surgical history.
