A 52-year-old woman from India complained about her weight reaching almost 17 stones or 238 pounds. Slowly, her feet began to swell, and one of her doctors said she was still lucky because she had not suffered any organ failure.
Unknowingly, there was a tumor growing in her ovary, and it took doctors at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in Delhi three hours to successfully remove it.
World's Largest Ovarian Tumor
A woman from India, who wishes to be unnamed, initially complained when her weight reached almost 112 lbs and that her feet could no longer support her to walk as it had started swelling. The 52-year-old woman had no idea that a giant tumor was already growing inside her ovary, taking up 45 percent of her total body weight.
Lead surgeon, Dr. Arun Prasad of the Indraprastha Appolo Hospital in Delhi, said that he had not witnessed anything like the woman's case before in over three decades in his profession.
He added that it is a miracle that the woman is recuperating well after the surgery that lasted for over 180 minutes. If the tumor was left untreated, it could have caused her ovary to explode.
Before the surgery, she needed a blood transfusion as she started to experience anemia, in which the hemoglobin level drops significantly.
Dr. Prasad commended his team for successfully removing the tumor dubbed as the world's largest ovarian tumor weighing about eight stones or 112lbs. He sees it as an incredible achievement as the operation had no room for error, but they have successfully pulled it off.
Another doctor involved the surgery, Dr. Abhishek Tiwari said that the patient is recovering quickly and is lucky to have not suffered any organ failure.
She will be discharged only one day after her surgery.
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Ovarian Tumors
Ovarian tumors do not necessarily have symptoms. That means a woman with the condition rarely experiences any noticeable symptoms until, in some cases, it eventually grows large, causing pelvic and abdominal discomfort.
By that time, symptoms might include abdominal pain, trouble urinating or frequent urination, low back pain, pain during sexual intercourse, muscle cramps during menstruation, feeling quickly full after eating, or sometimes no appetite, and nausea or vomiting.
Ovarian tumors are usually spotted during a general physical exam or Pap test as symptoms rarely happen. Due to that, women should always have a routine Pap test to ensure any changes in the ovaries are diagnosed as early as possible.
Doctors would simply recommend "watchful waiting" to ensure that there are no problems when a benign ovarian tumor grows.
However, if an ovarian tumor does not go away and causes pain, they are usually treated with surgery, such as laparoscopy, to remove the tumor. But surgeons may recommend laparotomy when the tumor is larger.
In times when the tumor is cancerous, the doctors may perform laparotomy to remove a part or all of the malignant tumor. This process is known as ovarian tumor debulking.
Some ovarian tumor operations would only remove the tumors, leaving the ovary intact. But some cases would require the tumor and ovary to be removed, and rarely both ovaries are removed during the operation.
The removal of one ovary does not affect the functioning of the remaining one. It also does not affect the hormones and reproductive capacity of the other ovary.
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