Chennai: 20-yr-old tumour between heart and lungs removed

The one-kg non-cancerous tumour on the patient Subbalakshmi was removed in a four-hour-long surgery by a team of experts led by Dr Vishwanath Pai, senior consultant at the Department of Minimally Invasive Surgery at Prashanth Hospitals recently.

The patient was diagnosed with a small mass in her chest upon a general x-ray examination 20 years ago. Over the years, the mass grew leading to heart and lung compression risk, which could have led to further complications like breathing difficulties, chest pain, and internal bleeding.

Though thyroid is always considered a common disorder, in this case, the tumour was located close to the heart and lung and made it further complicated. While this was diagnosed earlier, surgical procedures were not opted.

Dr Vishwanath Pai said open-chest surgery for the removal of thyroid tumours is very rare in the country. “In this case, the risk was high owing to its location. If the surgery was not done, the patient could have suffered severe heart and lung complications that could have been fatal. This case is a real example of people understanding the role of early detection to provide timely treatment,” he said.