Wonder Surgery: Volleyball-Sized Tumour Removed From Woman’s Abdomen

A volleyball-sized tumour was removed from the abdomen of a Telangana woman recently. The 65-year-old woman has recovered well after a complex six-hour laparoscopic surgery.

The surgeons were surprised to discover that the large tumour was congenital, and yet the mother of two didn’t feel it until recently.

Calling it an extremely rare case, doctors said that the tumour could have ruptured and caused life-threatening complications.

Laparoscopic surgeon Dr Venkata Pavan Kumar said he had not previously come across a tumour that was more than 4 cm in diameter, adding that the task of removing it through laparoscopic surgery was quite a challenge.

“She had severe pain in the right abdominal area for over a year. She was consulting for gastric symptoms. A biopsy revealed a tumour which was congenital. It must have been small to start with and gradually grew in size over the last 20-30 years,” the surgeon said.

The surgery involved breaking the tumour into pieces and removing those using endobags.

“The position of the tumour was also very rare, it was located close to the liver. The right kidney was pushed to one side and the intestine was sitting on the swelling. The tumour was almost compressing the lungs. Had it not been removed surgically on time, it would have ruptured into the lung, liver, or intestine and caused bleeding,” Kumar added.