Mangalore, November 29: A 32-year-old female patient had a history of difficulty in swallowing food since the last 3 years. She had consulted several doctors in and around Mangalore and later came to Dr. Ashok Hegde, Head of the Department, General Surgery, A.J. Institute of Medical Sciences.
On conducting various tests and experiments, she was diagnosed with large fibro-vascular polyp arising from the upper oesophagus occupying the whole of her food pipe. The patient was severely anaemic and had lost about 10 kilograms of weight since the last 6 months, according to a press release.
This patient was referred to the Cardiothoracic Surgery team at A.J. Hospital & Research Centre. Surgical removal usually requires incision in neck, thorax and sometimes, the abdomen with a long hospital stay. The Cardiothoracic team removed the whole tumour with a single small incision in the neck and a small opening in the oesophagus.
The surgery was carried out successfully by the team headed by Dr. Jayashankar Marla, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Dr. Madhav Kamath, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Dr. Gururaj Thantri, Consultant Cardiac Anaesthetist and Dr. Naganand, Cardiac Anaesthetist.
The tumour measured 25 x 6 x 2cm. Post-surgery, the patient was symptom-free, able to swallow food with no difficulty and has since gained weight, said Dr. Prashanth Marla, Medical Director of A.J. Hospital & Research Centre.
Benign oesophageal tumours being rare, this was the rarest and one of the largest reported. First case was reported in 1559 and since then, less than 100 cases have been reported over the world. The interesting part is that the surgeons were able to remove the giant tumour with a small incision in the neck, he said.
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