Doctors at Medica Hospital remove tumour from an old man's sinonasal cavity

Jiban Kumar Das, a 74-year-old man, got his life back when the doctors at Medica Hospital removed a large nasal mass. The miraculous surgery was completed within 45 minutes and that too under local anaesthesia, especially when the patient was close to a heart failure condition. He had already underwent nasal surgery thrice before this, but every time the mass would grow again!

Most other hospitals had either refused the patient, and a few others had said the patient might die during the surgery, as recalled by the family members of the patient. When they were almost losing hope, they were told by one of their relatives to come to Medica as the last option. The patient reported with respiratory distress coupled with cough, as recalled by the ENT team.

Immediately, Echo screening and CT scan were done; he was put on conservative management and the ENT team advised him to undergo an endoscopy, which revealed a tumour. Thankfully, the notorious nasal tumour in the nose was a benign tumour which was recurrently causing the discomfort along with bleeding from nose off and on which was more worrying for the patient and the family.

Medical history of Jiban Kumar transpires that he was a smoker, which he left almost 20 years back. In the '80s, Jiban Kumar started to experience some problems-cold, discharge from the nose, headaches, and difficulty in breathing. The sense of smell was missing, too. The doctors then detected a nasal tumour. In simple words, inverted papilloma is a recurrent benign tumour which has a tendency to grow inside the nose and Paranasal sinuses and it can turn into a bad cancerous lesion on long standing. Jiban had his mass sometimes hanging out of his nose when he sneezed and this embarrassment caused him to become a recluse, recalls his elder daughter, Piyu.

In 1994, his daughters forced him to go for a surgery to remove his nasal tumour. By 1996 again, he was operated for the same in a hospital in Kolkata but the nasal tumour refused to die down. Experts say that nasal tumours have a tendency to grow back. By this time, he had developed other complication like that of the heart and kidney. He even had to undergo a pacemaker implant for his heart. "He visited other hospitals in Kolkata for this ENT problem but all of them refused to treat him fearing his heart condition," said Piyu.

His daughter, Piyu, narrated that on his arrival at Medica, the doctors found out that Jiban Kumar was very close to a heart failure.

"He came to us and he was desperate to undergo a surgery. Since he was in high spirit, we agreed to operate upon him. A multi-disciplinary opinion from Cardiology, Pulmonology, and Nephrology departments was taken before the surgery keeping in mind his poor health conditions," said Dr. Arjun Dasgupta, Consultant-ENT.

"Unfortunately, he had severe medical conditions which made the operation very risky. His multiple comorbidities like a poor heart, lung and renal condition, were certainly a concern for the OT. He got a heavenly relief post-surgery," said Dr. Anupama S Satpathy, Junior Consultant, ENT.

"We were indeed surprised noticing his speed of the recovery. We will advise anybody who's suffering from the same condition not to wait - just go and get it done. It makes you feel a lot better," opined Dr. N.V.K. Mohan, ENT Consultant and Dr. Chirajit Dutta, ENT Consultant.

"After the surgery, I feel relieved for the first time in many years. It's a fantastic feeling and I'm over the moon. I have a perfect nose again!" said Jiban, after his complete recovery.

"It's a very gratifying outcome for the patient and very rewarding for the surgeons; to be able to make someone feel better especially after years and years of discomfort," said Dr. Alok Roy, Chairman, Medica Group of Hospitals.