The team of doctors at Zynova Shalby Hospital with Yemeni patient Nasser.
Credit: Special Arrangement
A 51-year-old Yemeni national afflicted with Liposarcoma—an uncommon form of cancer—got a new lease of life after successful treatment at a Mumbai hospital where doctors removed a 6 kg tumour from his body.
Dr Sundaram Pillai, Surgical Oncologist at the Zynova Shalby Hospital in Mumbai, successfully treated Nasser, who hails from Yemen.
The patient started having vague upper abdominal discomfort for a fortnight.
A CT scan was done in Yemen which revealed a lesion in the Retroperitoneum Liposarcoma.
Due to lack of availability of expertise in their country, the patient was referred to India.
“Pet Scan and biopsy was done here. It revealed a huge tumor of size 30 cm x 25 cm x 25 cm. Liposarcoma is an unusual type of cancer that originates in fat cells in the soft tissues of the body. Patient was explained about the need for multivisceral resection,” said Dr Pillai.
In a surgery that lasted for 4 hours, a 6 kg mass was extracted from the abdomen.
"As the tumor was encasing pancreas and spleen, hence a large part of the pancreas and the entire spleen had to be removed. As the tumor was stuck to greater curvature of the stomach, a part of the stomach also had to be taken out. The surgery went well and the patientd was discharged after 8 days of hospitalization,” he said.
“I tried to seek treatment in my country but failed due to the lack of infrastructure and non-availability of expertise which is why I came to India. I was fortunate to have been treated by a skilled team of doctors in the hospital," said Nasser.