Six-year-old girl suffering from bulging of tongue operated successfully

The girl had developed symptoms of this complicated disease in childhood but it was diagnosed two years ago.

A six-year-old girl suffering from bulging of the tongue was operated upon successfully at Apollomedics Super Specialty Hospital by plastic, cosmetic and reconstructive surgeon Dr Nikhil Puri and surgical oncologist Dr Kamlesh Verma a fortnight back.

After a 14-hour effort by doctors, the cancer was completely removed. (HT File Photo)

Verma said the child had developed the symptoms of this complicated disease since childhood but her parents came to know about it two years ago. For the last two years the girl had a bunch of blood veins in her tongue, due to which she was neither able to eat nor speak. A tumor called hemangioma had also developed in more than half of the tongue and the child was also having trouble in breathing due to bleeding from it. The child became physically weak, and at the age of 6, her weight was only 13 kg, Verma said.

He added that “due to the girl being very weak, it was challenging to extract the tumor.

After a 14-hour effort by Verma and other staffers, the cancer was completely removed by surgery, after which Dr Puri successfully reconstructed the tongue from the tissues removed by the girls’ left hand by micro-vascular technology. After the operation, the girl was kept in the hospital for 14 days and when she became fully healthy, she was discharged from the hospital.