A massive ovarian tumour of 9 kg arising from the pelvis and going high into the upper abdomen and pushing all the intestines away had made this 66-year-old womanтАЩs life miserable. Pressing the main blood vessels, the aorta, ureters and kidneys, the mass seemed to have increased in size despite chemotherapy cycles.
Surgeons at PuneтАЩs Sanjeevan Hospital operated on this huge ovarian mass on October 17 as there was no metastatic spread of cancer inside the stomach.
At the age of 47, the woman had undergone an abdominal hysterectomy with removal of the right fallopian tube and ovary in 2003 at Sassoon General Hospital. She was also operated for a torn right knee cartilage and an arthroscopic repair was done in 2008.
However, her abdominal size started increasing gradually over the last 10 years. She also had a lot of constipation and acidic issues. It was when she started feeling a tightness in her abdomen in June this year especially as she was unable to bend for daily household chores that she underwent investigations at the Sassoon hospital.
She had a complex cystic lesion in the lower abdomen and was also diagnosed with hypothyroidism. First-cycle chemotherapy in the last week of August this year led to severe vomiting and discomfort following which she sought admission at Sanjeevan Hospital, where panel consultant in surgical oncology Dr Kamlesh Bokil recommended neoadjuvant chemotherapy as the mass was huge with restricted mobility.
The huge left ovarian mass coming out of the pelvis, displacing large bowel loops to the periphery was dissected very carefully from all sides and mobilised from the vaginal vault and urinary bladder. тАЬAfter all-around mobilisation was complete, I reached the top of the mass and put my whole hand behind it, separated it from the underlying large blood vessel тАУ inferior vena cava and aorta by gentle dissection,тАЭ Dr Bokil told The Indian Express.
The team proceeded gradually in this manner, avoiding any major blood loss till the entire mass was freed all around. Dr Bokil and team Dr Milind Belsare, Dr Sharmila Kharkar, Dr Aditya Deshpande. D ┬аPrafulla Pradhan and Dr Sachin ensured that they did not open either the large or small bowel during the surgery.┬а тАЬThe ovarian mass did not rupture during handling. It was removed intact and weighed almost 8.85 kg,тАЭ Dr Bokil said, adding that the patientтАЩs abdomen was soft and her vital parameters were stable.
