Docs remove 9 kg tumour from Iraqi patient's chest

Doctors at a city hospital removed a tumour weighing nine kilograms from the chest of a 41-year-old Iraqi patient, giving him a new lease of life.

The tumour was lodged in the man's mediastinum (a membranous partition between the lungs), crushing his lungs and heart. This had caused his arteries to constrict, his breathing to become laboured and shallow and sharp pains to shoot up and down his chest.

"Patient Dhyee Saleem had been consistently feeling breathless. He was unable to walk or talk without gasping for air. He had consulted several doctors and had undergone numerous tests. However, none of these yielded any concrete results," said Dr Udgit Dhir, Director and Head of Department, Cardiac Surgery, Fortis Memorial Research Institute.

He was getting tired easily and was not able to do his daily work. His condition was deteriorating steadily when he approached the Fortis Hospital.

A thorough evaluation revealed that there was a huge lump of mass pressing on the right side of the heart invading the blood vessels, thus restricting the blood flow from the right ventricle to the left ventricle which had led to low supply of oxygen further leading to breathlessness in the patient, Dhir said.

Post the diagnosis, the patient was prepped for surgery which lasted for four hours. The surgery took place on April 21. The patient recovered in three days, post which he was discharged and is leading a healthy life now, he said.

It is very rare to come across such a case. This was a person who was living for several months with a nine kg tumour. It was a challenging case as the tumour was compressing the right ventricular outflow tract, other adjoining structures and great vessels. It had made the expansion of lungs difficult. Employing surgical techniques helped in the successful removal of the tumour," Dr Dhir said.

Atypical carcinoids are tumours which have a very fast growth rate and tend to spread to the other organs. They are much less common than typical carcinoids, said Dr Ritu Garg, Zonal Director of Fortis Memorial Research Institute.

These tumours constitute between 10-30 per cent of the carcinoid tumours. They are termed intermediate-grade malignancies. This type of tumour is strongly associated with smoking.

Atypical Carcinoid Tumour of Lung arises more often in the proximal airways of the lung and can cause chest pain, breathing difficulties, fatigue, fever, weight loss, and appetite loss. Chemotherapy, surgery, radiation therapy, and other treatment measures may be used for treating atypical carcinoid tumour.