In what is claimed to be a world record, a Mumbai surgeon extricated a 2.8 kg benign tumour from a 14-year-old girl at a municipal hospital here last week.
The tumour, nearly one-and-a-half-foot-long, was removed from Sana S. Shaikh, living in Andheri, according to Niranjan Chavan, who performed the surgery at LTMG Sion Hospital.
"On Dec 31, the girl, complaining of severe back and abdominal pain, was admitted to the gynaecology department. After a medical and CT scan examination, it was diagnosed as a left ovarian mucinous cyst adenoma - roughly the size of a 38-week-old baby in a pregnant woman," Chavan told IANS.
Her worried family, hailing from an economically backward state, was advised to go for immediate surgery.
A successful ovariectomy operation was performed on January 3 to remove the huge tumour along with 300 ml of mucinous fluid which had accumulated inside in multiple tumours within the main tumour, he added.
"The patient is fine and recovering without any problems in the hospital," Chavan said.
Citing records, Chavan said that this was the largest of its kind benign tumour removed so far in the world.
"Superficial ovarian tumours like these are unusual in young girls and especially rare before menstruation. So far, there have been only nine cases of benign tumours recorded in the world prior to puberty stage, plus another six which are semi-cancerous. This is also the first case of its kind in India," Chavan explained.