YCMH doctors remove rare tumour with only 1 centimetre incision from woman

The woman was diagnosed with Thymomas, extremely rare tumours of the thymus gland, a mediastinal structure with a role in immunity

A team of doctors at the Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital (YCMH) Pimpri, removed an 8x7 cm tumour completely thoracoscopically from a 40-year-old woman.

As per doctors the case was complicated as the patient had a large goitre (neck swelling due to thyroid gland enlargement) with a known case of hyperthyroidism. (HT PHOTO)

The tumour was removed from the right side of her chest, complexly located over her beating heart on March 11, said doctors.

The woman was diagnosed with Thymomas, extremely rare tumours of the thymus gland, a mediastinal structure with a role in immunity, and accounts for approximately 0.15 cases per 100,000 persons a year.

Traditionally, such surgery is performed as a large, painful transsternal thymectomy (literally splitting a patient’s chest open).

In this case, VATS Thymectomy (Video Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery),was done with just four very small incisions, making it an almost painless and scarless surgery.

This patient was diagnosed incidentally a few months earlier at a private hospital during a CT scan of her chest.

The further screened tests confirmed the tumour and the patient was brought to YCMH as the family was unable to afford the expensive surgery.

As per doctors the case was complicated as the patient had a large goitre (neck swelling due to thyroid gland enlargement) with a known case of hyperthyroidism, making it a tricky case to manage not just surgically, but also anaesthetically.

After a considerable preoperative workup, and almost one month of optimisation, the patient was finally taken for surgery.

During the procedure her thymus gland and the tumour were entirely removed thoracoscopically in just a few hours, they said.

The surgical team included senior laparoscopic surgeon Dr Anand Zingade, Dr Mayur Baviskar and the anaesthetic team led by Dr Jitendra Waghmare.

The surgery was performed under the guidance of the head of the department of surgery Dr Balaji Dhaigude amongst others.

“With the help of the Post Graduate Institute (PGI) and teaching system, it is becoming possible to perform complex and unprecedented surgeries at YCMH. This procedure is one of the many examples of the same,” said Dr Rajendra Wabale, Dean of YCMH.

Dr Anand Zingade, head of unit and operating surgeon, said that despite the challenging nature of the case, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery has afforded the patient a massive reduction in morbidity.

“Just two days post-surgery, she had already resumed her daily activities, and continues to keep well,” he said.