Massive 5kg tumour removed from woman's uterus in UAE

Her bloated stomach made her look like she was nine months pregnant. Walking became a drag and she also experienced nagging pain in her back and abdomen. Worse, she had heavy menstrual bleeding. The 'heaviness' weighed the 40-year-old Bangladeshi expat down over the last two years.
She had visited several hospitals complaining about her condition but was turned away as her case was dubbed as 'extremely complicated', until she reached Thumbay University Hospital, Thumbay Medicity in Ajman.
In a three-and-a-half-hour rare abdominal surgery, doctors at the hospital removed a giant size tumour, weighing 5kg, from the woman's uterus. The massive uterine tumour (fibroid) had almost encroached her entire abdomen as well as stomach, forcing her to go through an exasperating tribulation and torment.
Dr Prashanth Hegde, senior gynaecologist and laparoscopic surgeon at the hospital, said: "The patient had a huge tumour occupying her whole abdomen that made her stomach bloat. And what made her case more complex was that she had diabetes, hypertension and thyroid disorder as medical comorbidities. The woman had undergone previous surgeries on her womb. The patient's condition posed a huge challenge for the surgical and anaesthesia teams as the three-and-a-half-hour procedure involved the risk of heavy blood loss."
Dr Hegde added: "We performed an open surgery and not a laparoscopic one in her case because for the latter, we usually need some space in the tummy to insert the instruments. But in her case, there was not an inch of space as the tumour had invaded her full abdomen and stomach just under the chest area. Also, she had three previous surgeries - two for fibroids and one C-section and this time we had to remove her uterus as she didn't want to take any chance of recurring tumours."
The surgery took long because of the huge size of the tumour and other complications such as low blood level, he explained.
The woman made a quick recovery. She visited the hospital after a week for follow-up and her health condition was found to be "satisfactory". She and her husband were thankful for the surgery, which had relieved her of a long-standing pain and ordeal.
Rare condition
"Fibroid uterus (leiomyoma) is relatively a common condition in women in reproductive age group. A fibroid is a tumour or abnormal growth found on the womb. Small fibroids, if witnessed, are generally harmless. Super giant leiomyoma of the kind seen in this patient is a very rare condition, posing significant morbidity for the patient," Dr Hegde said.
Dr Hegde had removed a similar tumour, weighing 3.5kg, from a young, unmarried South African woman, in 2015.
saman@khaleejtimes.com