A Farmer gets lease of life and wins fight against cancer!

Mr Charan Lal(name changed) who is a farmer and resident of Bikaner, Rajasthan was suffering from discomfort in his stomach for last six months. He thought it was regular gas pain until recently when his symptoms got worse and he started feeling pain in his stomach. He always felt bloated and was not able to eat. His family realized that he had lost over 10 Kg weight in 3 months. He was unable to lie flat on bed to sleep and nor was able to breathe easily. He approached many hospitals but never got any relief. He then consulted Dr. Ushast Dhir, Consultant in Dept. of Surgical Gastroenterology and Liver transplantation at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi.

Dr Dhir evaluated him and his scan revealed a large tumor in his body occupying more than 80% space in his abdomen. This tumor had grown so huge that it had displaced his intestines to the left side of his body. The tumor was now compressing on all structures of his abdomen including his liver, both his kidneys, stomach and spleen. It was also putting pressure on the main blood vessels which help in getting blood to and fro from heart.

This was a patient who could achieve cure only by removal of this tumor. Dr. Ushast Dhir said a multi disciplinary  team approach was use to work up this patient for complex surgery.  The process of optimizing this patient required  help of multiple doctors including Dr. Sachin Kathuria from urology, Dr Ish Anand from neurology and Dr Mehta from cardiology. The anesthesia in this patient was complicated by the fact that this huge tumor had compromised blood return to the heart. Dr. Vineet under the leadership of Dr J Sood took the challenging task of giving anesthesia to this patient.

Dr. Ushast  Dhir, the chief surgeon for the case stated that the tumor had left no room in the abdomen to operate. The surgery to be successful required removal of the tumor in one piece without damaging the vitals organs and their blood supply. This required extremely precise dissection of this tumor separating it from liver and its blood supply, intestines, right kidney and ureter. Dr Dhir also stated that there was no room for blood loss as the venous return to heart was already compromised and loosing blood would mean a disaster. The most complex part of the surgery was separating the tumor from renal veins, aorta and vena cava without loosing blood or damaging these structures.  To achieve it the team had to conduct this surgery with absolute perfection. It required over 10 hours for the team to successfully remove the tumor. The tumor weighed over 10 Kg and was 2 feet long. Dr Dhir said this tumor was a well differentiated liposarcoma and to our knowledge this is this largest liposarcoma removed until now. The patient was discharged after 1 week of surgery and pleasantly jokes feeling empty in his stomach having delivered 4 babies in one go. Dr Dhir and the team at Sir Ganga Ram hospital was happy and proud to have served a farmer from humble background and helped him win his fight against cancer.