Chennai doctors remove football-sized tumour from abdomen

CHENNAI: Rajam Sivaraman had been was experiencing severe abdominal pain for the past few months, but nothing prepared her for what the doctors found in her stomach.

A battery of tests showed the 50-year-old had a 10kg tumour in her abdomen, the size of a football. Doctors from SIMS Hospital in Vadapalani removed the mass in a challenging procedure performed earlier this week, and gave the woman a new lease of life.

Speaking on the surgery Dr S Rajasundaram, director and senior consultant - surgical oncology, said, "The tumour secreted a lot of jelly-like material which had engulfed the entire abdomen and caused significant breathlessness to the patient. After careful evaluation, we decided to perform a procedure called cytoreductive surgery with chemotherapy."

The procedure, performed over 10 hours, consisted of meticulously removing diseased portions in the abdominal cavity followed by circulating heated chemotherapeutic agents during surgery.

"This would ensure that drugs have maximum effect to control the tumour cells. The procedure results in prolonged survival of abdominal cancer patients," he said, adding that Rajam had recovered well and could go home soon.