17kg Tumour Removed From Woman’s Abdomen In Life-Saving Operation

A woman has gone from the brink of suicide to the “happiest person” after having a 17kg tumour – the weight of a four-year-old boy – removed from her abdomen.

The enormous mass, which grew rapidly in just nine months, caused Nunwati Devi, 30, from Bihar in India, so much pain that she contemplated suicide.

It is believed to have been caused by growing teratoma syndrome (GTS) – a rare condition in which chemotherapy wipes out the malignant elements of a tumour, leaving the benign tissue to multiple exponentially. Devi underwent an ovarian cystectomy in her right ovary and three cycles of chemotherapy in early 2014 – but her tumour continued to grow.

A CT scan and exploratory laparotomy found a huge abdomino pelvic mass – meaning the only option was to remove it in a gruelling eight-hour operation.

A major part of the urinary bladder and portion of the large bowel was removed, and a reconstruction was made out of the small intestine.

Before Nunwati was wheeled into the operating theatre she weighed 60.5kg – but once the tumour was removed she weighed just 43kgs.

Nunwati’s husband said: “My wife just wanted to get rid of this thing. “She told me ‘I don’t want to die due to this. I will take poison, I will commit suicide at a railway track but I won’t die because of this. It is fine if I die during the operation or after the operation but I just want to get rid of this tumour or whatever it is.'”

And with the successful op behind her, Nunwati is on the road to recovery.

Umesh said: “Today she is the happiest person on Earth.”

AIIMS doctors said they had never seen an ovarian tumour on this scale.

Dr M.D Ray, from the hospital’s Surgical Oncology department, said: “I have never seen a tumour of this size in my career.”

Source: Mirror