41-year-old woman saved after doctors remove 'giant' tumour from her brain

The cyst, weighing 200 gm, had taken the shape of an egg with a hard surface

Life of a 41-year-old woman has been saved after successful removal of a cyst weighing 200gm from her brain at a city hospital in Faridabad, doctors said on Thursday.

According to the hospital authorities, Shanti got diagnosed of the problem couple of months back. Along with tremendous pain, the patient was unable to stand or walk without support.

Doctors advised MRI of her head which unveiled a large hollow stone-like tumour/ cyst inside her brain. It had taken the shape of an egg with a hard surface, with brain cells all around it.

After admission at the Asian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), a team of doctors was constituted and accordingly the decision was taken to perform the surgery.

"We tested the foreign matter and discovered that it was caused by some parasite. Such parasites in the brain are known to cause soft balloon like cysts in some patients, but this type of hard structure and size has never been reported in medical literature," said Mukesh Pandey, Senior Consultant Neurosurgeon at AIMS.

During the surgery, the doctors had to be extra careful in removing the cyst as it contained toxic fluids as well. They said that if the fluid had leaked out into the brain, it could have caused severe reactions or formed more cysts, which could have killed the patient.

The surgery took about four hours.

"It was a challenging surgery as we had to remove this egg-shaped cyst completely and in one piece without causing any damage to the brain. It was about 200gm in weight and measured 8cmX8cm in size," said Kamal Verma, Director of Neurosurgery at AIMS.

According to the doctor, the patient took couple of weeks to recover and now is fit to do her daily chores.

"Shanti can carry out her daily chores smoothly and has no problems with her speech now. She thanked AIMS for giving her a new life," said one of the doctors.