The patient, Noorjahan, a native of Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh had come to AIIMS with very large lump in the neck region in May.
"It has been there for more than 20 years. Noorjahan had no problem in eating, breathing and had no pain. But it was putting pressure on nearby organs, causing heaviness and breathing problems," said Dr Pratyusha Priyadarshini, senior resident doctor at AIIMS' Surgery Department.
"Surgery took place on June 8 and we used the technique different from the routine one.
"Usually patient is put on anesthesia and then tube is inserted into the trachea for airway management. But here we wanted to insert the tube into her windpipe while she was awake because of the narrowing of the trachea and then she was put on anesthesia.
"It was a challenging surgery as it was a large goiter (a swelling of the neck resulting from enlargement of the thyroid gland) and we had to modify surgical techniques as the trachea, oesophagus, recurrent laryngeal nerve of both sides and the main vessels of the neck were close to the thyroid," explained Dr S Chumber Professor Deptt of Surgery, AIIMS.
"Her Trachea was wafer-thin and there were chances of stridor (noisy breathing that occurs due to obstructed air flow) due to collapsing of traches. To prevent this condition we did a temporary tracheotomy in which a tube was inserted in the windpipe to assist her in breathing," said Dr Priyadarshini.
The patient was kept under observation for six hours.
"Her vitals were found to be stable and after eight days the tube was taken out and she was breathing normally," Priyadarshini said.
The patient was dischared within three weeks and is doing fine, doctors said.