Doctors remove huge tumour from newborn’s abdomen in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar: Surgeons at SUM Ultimate Medicare (SUMUM) have successfully removed a huge tumour from the abdomen of a newborn girl, hospital sources said on Thursday.

“The parents of the baby consulted the doctors after they noticed a swelling in the baby’s abdomen. The baby weighing 2.5 kg during birth also faced difficulty during feeding on the second day after birth.” Dr. Pradeep Kumar Dey, the hospital’s Senior Consultant, Paediatric and Neonatology, said.

“After thorough investigation, we found that the baby had an ‘immature teratoma’ of size 10x9x8 cm inside the abdomen. It was decided to conduct the surgery to remove the teratoma,” Dr. Dey said.

Also read: SUM surgeons conduct challenging surgery on newborn

A ‘teratoma’ is a tumour composed of tissues not normally present at the site it was located. Prof. (Dr.) Antaryami Pradhan, paediatric surgeon, led the surgery and was assisted by Dr. Sudam Sadangi, onco-surgeon while the anaesthesia team comprised of HOD Anaesthesiology Dr. Dipankar Padihary, Senior Consultant Anaesthesiology Dr. Surupa Deviprada, Dr. Prasant Kumar Behera and Dr Sonam Panda.

Prof. Pradhan said the surgery was very challenging as the tumour was closely attached to the major vessels of the baby’s abdomen. “We had to undertake the surgery with immense care as the teratoma had crossed the midline to the opposite side in the baby’s abdomen,” he said.

“This was high-risk surgery where any trivial injury to the aorta or vena cava could have led to adverse outcome. However, by God’s grace, the surgery was conducted successfully.” Prof. Pradhan added.

Following the surgery, the baby was kept on ventilator support and was under the treatment of Dr. Dey and Dr. Ajay Kumar Gahan (Junior Consultant).

Dr. Gahan said the baby had shown great improvement and was now being breastfed. He pointed out that the team of experienced surgeons, doctors, nursing staff and well-equipped Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) set-up was a contributing factor in the effective recovery of the baby.