Geeta Nayya, 47, has been doing her chores with one hand for several years because she could barely move her right hand that had a web-like 5-kg tumour hanging from it.
When she was 8-years-old, a small scar on her hand started growing and after she got married, her father did not bother with getting it treated. Over the years, the tumour kept on growing and became like a bag covering her entire arm.
Geeta, who lives in Kolkata, finally got the tumour removed at Dr Ram Manohar Lohia hospital in Delhi. “My son works in Delhi, he got me here for treatment. I had grown quite used to moving around with the tumour, but I had to be careful as the skin is so thin on the tumour that it starts bleeding even if there is a slight scratch,” said Geeta, who had her surgery on February 15.
She has a condition called neurofibroma, a tumour of the nerve cell sheath that is usually not cancerous. The condition is not very uncommon, between 1 in 5,000-10,000 people have it.
{{/usCountry}}She has a condition called neurofibroma, a tumour of the nerve cell sheath that is usually not cancerous. The condition is not very uncommon, between 1 in 5,000-10,000 people have it.
{{/usCountry}}However, the tumours usually do not grow so big.
“In these cases, the tumours are very visible and sometimes on the face too. So, people usually get it removed early on. The tumours are not cancerous, but it cause disability by restricting movement. The weight of the tumour causes imbalance, puts pressure on the spine causing pain and change in gait,” said Dr Samik Bhattacharya, cosmetic and reconstructive surgeon at RML hospital.
She has several small tumours all over her body, although none have grown so big. “We don’t need to and cannot remove all her tumours as they are scattered all across her body. However, there is a chance that another one of her tumour starts growing spontaneously,” said Dr Bhattacharya.
It was a challenging surgery for the doctors too. “The blood vessels in her hand had enlarged as they had to supply blood to the huge tumour. During the surgery, we had to ensure that she did not bleed out. So, we had to use a special clamp,” said Dr Bhattacharya.
“The closure of the cut was also difficult because we had removed enormous amount of tissue; the tumour had spread on the entire arm. We had to use skin graft from the thigh,” he said.