Doctors remove gigantic tumour from woman’s stomach

The woman had been in pain for months but couldn’t afford to see a doctor. By the time she did, the lump in her stomach was larger than a pregnancy bump.

Medics removed a gigantic 18kg “pumpkin”-shaped ovarian tumour in a challenging surgery.

Doctors at Acharya Vinoba Bhave Hospital in Wardha, India operated on Kavita Kalam, who had visited the hospital with complaints of a rapidly growing lump in her abdomen that doctors described as bigger than a “pregnancy” bump.

The 38-year-old woman lost her husband a few years ago and had been enduring immense pain for the past seven months because she could not afford medical treatment.

It was only when the tumour in her right ovary kept growing and started causing respiratory distress that she was brought to the hospital with the help of villagers who pooled the equivalent of about $A100.

The woman could not afford to see her doctor. Picture: Caters t

At the hospital, the doctors performed a battery of tests, including a CT scan on the woman, who has a seven-year-old son, and found an ovarian cyst (serous cystadenoma) that massively grew to 106cm and weighed a whopping 18kg.

“This is the biggest cyst I have operated on,” Dr Arpita Jaiswal Singam said.

“It was so large that it took up 95 per cent of the patient’s abdomen with an abdominal circumference of 106cm.”

The doctors said the surgery was challenging, as the cyst was huge and removal without spilling the fluid contents in the abdominal cavity required expertise.

The moment the medical team removed the gigantic pumpkin-shaped tumour. Picture: Caters

The woman had been in pain for months but could not afford medical treatment. Picture: Caters

Gynaecologist Dr Abhishek Kothule said the patient had not been for a general anaesthesia so the woman was given a spinal anaesthesia and epidural analgesia.

The limitations of the anaesthesia mean the team were limited in the incision they could make to remove the tumour.

The woman’s ovary had merged in the mass and her fallopian tube had thinned out. There were also chances of the woman slipping into hypotensive shock (low blood pressure).

The doctors took out the cyst by making an incision 2cm above the pubic bone to the belly button.

The medical team. Picture: Dr Abhishek Kothule/Caters

Dr Abhishek said: “If the tumour had not been removed correctly it could have ruptured her abdomen.”

The woman weighed 57kg before the surgery and her weight came down to 37kg after the cyst was removed. She is now stable, and her food intake has improved.