Large spinal tumour removed from young patient in high-risk surgery in Delhi

A very large spinal tumour was removed from a 22-year-old patient in a high-risk surgery at a leading private facility here, hospital authorities said on Thursday.The patient suffered from persistent back pain, which had been previously treated with medicines and physiotherapy, for more than one and half years, they said.She had developed recent onset weakness in both legs, making it difficult for her to walk.


PTI | New Delhi | Updated: 09-04-2021 00:42 IST | Created: 09-04-2021 00:20 IST
Large spinal tumour removed from young patient in high-risk surgery in Delhi
Representative image Image Credit: ANI
  • Country:
  • India

A very large spinal tumour was removed from a 22-year-old patient in a high-risk surgery at a leading private facility here, hospital authorities said on Thursday.

The patient suffered from persistent back pain, which had been previously treated with medicines and physiotherapy, for more than one and half years, they said.

She had developed recent onset weakness in both legs, making it difficult for her to walk. An MRI revealed a large spinal tumor which was extending across 14 vertebral columns, from the center of the patients back to the end of her lower back, the hospital said in a statement.

The surgery lasting for 12 hours was held at Fortis hospital, Shalimar Bagh.

The facility claimed that the spinal (ependymoma) tumour, spanning 37.4 cm, was the ''largest such tumour recorded in the world''.

Sonal Gupta, Director, Neuro and Spine Surgery, at the hospital said, ''It was a very high-risk case as it involved many segments. The surgery had to be done on the spinal cord which comprises many nerves, so there was a chance for the patient to be bedridden for the rest of her life.'' ''Another challenge was that since the location was within the spinal canal, we had to remove the bone at 14 levels, which could have caused the patient to develop instability of the spine. Therefore, our approach involved opening the spine (open door laminoplasty) through drilling and fixing it back with plates. The bone pieces were fixed back with plates instead of nibbling of the bone,'' she said.

The operation, held recently, began at 8 am and it continued till 8 pm. On the eleventh day after the surgery, the patient was walking with support and was under a vigorous neuro-rehabilitation programme, the hospital said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Give Feedback