Women comprise two thirds of the world working hours and produce half of the world food. Despite this workload, women suffer unreasonably from the burden of poverty, lack of education, violence and ill-health. In many ways, these circumstances prevent them from articulating their own needs, thus compromising their health and well-being as well as that of their children. Many women suffer from diseases like cancer and they ignore signs of the disease till the last stage.
Despite delayed diagnosis, a 47 years old housewife from Roha, Raigad district got a new life after a very rare and unique surgery. A lady came to Jupiter hospital complaining about severe right-hand pain and paralysis. She came with a huge mass on her neck of about 20 cm. She had this tumour since 1993 and one unsuccessful surgery was also tried to get rid of the tumour. She visited Jupiter after multiple consultations with allopathic, ayurvedic doctors but nobody agreed to take her in for surgery. Her tumor was even tattooed by a quack doctor. She had almost lost all hopes and accepted her misery when she developed paralysis of right hand. She started suffering from breathing issues since her windpipe was compressed because of the tumor which had bloated up.
After meeting Dr Ashish Pokharkar at Jupiter Hospital, Cancer Centre, the tumor was found to grow to 30×30 cm extending from neck to axilla and chest wall. The tumour was compressing all major vessels supplying blood to the right hand. After tumour board discussion at Jupiter Hospital, she was planned for major surgery.
“Dr. Ashish Pokharkar, Surgical Oncologist & Laparoscopic Surgeon, Jupiter Hospital said, “It took almost 17 and half hours to remove 2.50 kg tumor in one piece for my team. All major vessels were carefully separated and preserved. To reach to the tumor in this difficult-to-access area, surgeon had to cut the collar bone and anterior chest wall muscles”. Further he said, “The tumor had infiltrated into the nerves. First priority was to save the blood vessels, while simultaneously reconstructing the collar bone. It was a unique life-saving surgery where multiple surgeries were conducted on one table by expertise of Jupiter Hospital.”
After resection, Dr Rahul Dalal, Plastic Surgeon of Jupiter Hospital, along with his team, did plastic reconstruction. The nerve that was cut, was re-joined with sural nerve grafts which were harvested from both her lower limbs. Dr.Rahul Dalal said, “It was a very rare case in Pune, even in India; most of the doctors and renowned hospitals in Pune denied this case. Post tumor removal, her skin and tissue defect were covered with free tissue transplant which is an advanced surgery where tissue was harvested from her thigh along with its blood vessels. The blood vessels were then joined with neck blood vessels.”
The surgery was assisted by Dr. Paritosha Dalal. Anesthesia was managed by Dr Brishnik Bhattacharya and team. Dr. Amit Patil was another surgeon who assisted Dr. Ashish Pokharkar. Post operatively patient recovered without any complication and will be discharged soon.
