It was a tumour that weighed a whopping 1.873 kgs.
In a rare and complicated surgery, doctors at a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) hospital have successfully extricated the brain tumour from a 31-year-old blind man from Uttar Pradesh.
It is the largest of its kind to be excised successfully anywhere in the world, said Professor and Head of Neurosurgery at BYL Nair Charitable Hospital, Dr Trimurti D. Nadkarni.
The patient, Santlal Pal, 31, from Pali village in Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh, had been admitted with progressive swelling of his scalp, heaviness, constant headaches and loss of vision in both eyes for the past one year.
Upon examination, it was detected that he had a firm scalp swelling of a whopping 30x30x20 cms, which shockingly resembled two heads mounted on top of each other.
Besides, the blood vessels were very long, winded and enlarged, posing a bigger challenge to the medical team, and owing to the massive pressure on the brain, he had become completely blind.
After a series of MRI and CT scans of the brain, a specialized CT angiography was performed to study the blood supply of the massive brain tumour. The tumour was found to have invaded the brain on both sides of the midline through the skull bone of the patient.
On February 14, the patient, Santlal Pal, was wheeled into the operation theatre by Nadkarni and his team which performed a marathon seven-hour-long operation and successfully excised the brain tumour from Pal. Along with the tumour, even the affected skull bone was also removed during the surgery and they are awaiting the final medical reports to ascertain if it was benign or cancerous.
During the surgery, Santlal Pal required 11 units of blood transfusion and post-operation, he was put on ventilation support for three days.
Such large tumours are rare and a surgical challenge. There was a heavy blood loss and this required great team skill in perioperative monitoring for success. The weight of the earlier biggest tumour reported was 1.40 kg, and I had performed even that operation in KEM Hospital way back in 2002.Dr Trimurti D. Nadkarni, Professor and Head of Neurosurgery at BYL Nair Charitable Hospital
"I feel as if I am relieved of a large burden on my head," said a happy Pal, now convalescing after the operation, notching good recovery and placed on a full regular diet.
Nadkarni said there is a 50 percent chance of Pal regaining his vision.
(With inputs from IANS)
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