Gurugram doctors remove Iraqi woman’s tumour

GURUGRAM: An

Iraqi

national, Hanana Kadim Ismael (70) had lost all hopes of a normal life after being refused treatment for ovarian

tumour

by many surgeons in her own country. She was overweight as well as suffering from hypertension and bilateral knee osteoarthritis, all of which could have led to fatal complications during a surgery.


Unable to walk on her own, the 134-kg Hanana had been strapped to a wheelchair for around a year before she approached a Gurugram-based hospital. Doctors here diagnosed her with a 15cm complex ovarian tumour and after considering several surgical techniques, decided on a minimal access robot-assisted one.

The surgery involved removal of the ovarian tumour, total hysterectomy, removal of the opposite ovary and the

fallopian tube

. It was performed through five eight-mm incisions and lasted for seven hours but only 10ml of blood was lost during the procedure.

The benefits of this kind of surgery include tiny incisions, significantly less post-operative pain, minimal blood loss, quick recovery, shorter hospital stay and oral feeding on the same evening.

Rama Joshi, director and head of gynae-oncology department at the hospital, said, “Hanana’s was a challenging and risky case due to several interlinked underlying conditions — high obesity, hypertension, and bilateral knee

osteoporosis

.

“Traditional open surgery was not an option in her case as a long abdominal incision would lead to complications such as infection, longer healing time, hospital stay and hernia.”

Hanana said, “In Iraq, doctors told me that because of my weight, the surgery would be too risky and I might not survive it. But here I am on my feet again and will be soon going back to my country.” Her daughter Farah Mohammad said, “I came here with no hope but doctors explained that the surgery can be done with robotics within a week and now I can take my mother home.”