Surgical breakthrough: Doctors remove 12-kg tumour from patient’s uterus

The patient’s family refused to believe she was suffering from cancer.

KARACHI: Doctors at the Ziauddin University Hospital performed a medical wonder when they successfully removed a malignant tumour, weighing approximately 12 kilogrammes, from the uterus of a 26-year-old patient on Saturday.

Renowned surgeon and Ziauddin Hospital’ head of gynaecology department, Dr Rubina Hussain, headed the team of doctors that operated on the patient. She told The Express Tribune that, “My initial reaction at the sight of the patient’ abnormally enlarged abdomen was one of utter shock. In my 20-odd-years’ experience in the field, this was one of the largest tumours I have seen.”

Hussain immediately called a multidisciplinary team meeting to review the case based on the MRIs and CT scans of the affected areas. It was decided that the tumour needed to be surgically removed to avoid it from spreading to other organs. Moreover, the size of the tumour was so large that it was beginning to suppress the other organs, such as the lungs and liver, thereby reducing their functionality.



Hussain quickly formed a team of doctors to operate on the patient. Taking an aggressive approach, she claims they managed to remove most of the cancerous cells from the body. The patient’s uterus, which had two primary cancers and the ovaries, which also had a tumour mass, were extracted from the body. Luckily, the cancer had not yet metastasised to other parts of the body so the chances of survival of the patient would be very good if she is given further treatment.

On any complications in the surgery, Dr Hussain smiled suggestively and said, “The surgery was successful Alhamdolillah. It was a fairly simple procedure.” She did admit later that convincing the patient’s family to go for the treatment was a much more difficult feat. The patient’s family simply refused to believe that she suffered from uterine cancer, she added.

“This was what grieved me the most,” she said. “The patient belonged to an educated, middle-class family - yet they were in complete denial of her predicament,” she added, expressing indignation at the patient’s decision of vesting faith in medications from homeopathic doctors and faith-healers to do the job.

As of now, the patient will not be able to have any offspring - albeit, she will remain sexually active. “This is a huge price to pay because of the family’s negligence. If only she had come in sooner, the tumour mass would not have grown to such an extent and we might have been able to save her uterus,” she explained. The ordeal is not yet over for the surgeon or the patient though. For the patient to have a healthy chance of survival, she needs to undergo further treatment including chemotherapy and radiotherapy. “I have my fight cut out for me. Once again, I will need to coerce the family to allow treatment for the patient to avoid recurrence.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2013.