New Delhi, Feb 3: A 50-year-old man received a new lease of life after undergoing a surgery at a private facility here for the removal of a “rare tumour” in his appendix, which had caused the organ to grow ten times its normal size, the hospital authorities said on Thursday. The man was treated for a “rare mucinous tumour” in the appendix with the help of laparoscopic surgery, they said.
The man underwent the surgery at the Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj recently. The patient had complained of pain and fullness in the right lower abdomen. An initial ultrasound followed by a CT scan of the abdomen indicated a “burst appendix”, the hospital said in a statement.
There was a large collection of fluid in the region of appendix, around the liver with thickening of fat surrounding the intestines. The patient was further referred to Dr Amit Javed, Director, Gastrointestinal Oncology and Laparoscopic Surgery, at the facility. The patient was stable and did not have signs of the infection, which mostly happens in a burst appendix, thus it was crucial to make a correct diagnosis, the hospital authorities said.
On discussing with radiologists, the doctors could not separately identify a perforated appendix and hence, considered the possibility of a giant mucinous tumour of the appendix. The patient was planned for a laparoscopic surgery, they added. “The surgery involved removing the appendix (12 cm X 7 cm — ten times the size of a normal appendix), a portion of the small and large intestine along with removal of the thickened fat surrounding the intestines,” the statement said.
“This was an extremely rare case. We were able to save the life of the patient owing to a timely diagnosis and treatment. The challenge was that we had to be extremely careful and meticulous while doing this laparoscopic surgery. We had to avoid perforation of the appendix and any improper handling would have led to rupture of the organ, resulting in the spread of the tumour,” Javed said. Appendicular tumours are “very rare and account for less than one per cent of gatrointestinal cancer”. Most patients present non-specific symptoms and the diagnosis is made in the later stages. In some patients, an acute appendicitis-like presentation and right-lower abdominal pain secondary to distension of the appendix can occur, the hospital authorities said.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor
Read all the Latest News, Breaking News and Coronavirus News here.