Nair hospital doctors remove brain tumour weighing 1.8 kg, perhaps the largest such successfully excised in the world, from 31-year-old cloth vendor
Santlal Pal with his wife at Nair hospital after the removal of the tumour
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This a 31-year-old cloth vendor had quite literally become a man with two heads; but finally, the weight has been lifted off him. Nair hospital on Saturday removed a tumour from his brain, weighing 1.873 kg, in a seven-hour surgery. This may even be the largest brain tumour successfully excised in the world; weight of the tumour in a similar case reported in the past was 1.4 kg.
It was so large that it appeared as if he had two heads mounted on top of each other.
A heavy challenge
Santlal Pal, an Uttar Pradesh resident who was referred to Mumbai for treatment, had got admitted at Nair hospital in early February with progressive swelling of scalp, heaviness and headaches. He had also been suffering from vision loss for the last one year. Examination revealed a tumour measuring 30 x 30 x 20 cm, shocking the living daylights out of the medical staff at the hospital, who had never seen such a large one before.
Pal before the surgery
"The patient underwent CT and MR scans of the brain. Specialised CT angiography was performed to study blood supply of the tumour. After the investigation, we decided to perform the surgery [on February 14], which was extremely high-risk," said Dr Trimurti D Nadkarni, professor and head of neurosurgery, adding that such large tumours are rare and a surgical challenge.
Also read: 12-kg tumour removed from patient's abdomen in Mumbai
On recovery path
Dr Ramesh Bharmal, dean, said, "This is among the rarest of such cases ever documented in medical history. This kind of a complicated surgery shows that we are well equipped to provide advanced level of treatment to patients."
11 Units of blood given to patient
07 Number of hours the surgery lasted
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