DONA PAULA: Following a 14-hour marathon surgery, a team of doctors, including an orthopaedic oncologist, orthopaedic surgeon and plastic surgeon, managed to remove an eight-inch infected tumour from the lower leg of a 21-year-old boy and reconstruct the area through plate antibiotic cement and micro vascular flap surgery.
The boy had been suffering from a malignant tumour in his lower leg since 2013, which had grown to around eight inches between his ankle and foot. The boy underwent two surgeries in other hospitals in Goa and Mumbai prior to this one, which left him with an infected tumour.
Unable to walk due to pain in the affected leg for a year, the boy, coming to the conclusion that amputation was the only solution, approached the Manipal Hospital. Consultant orthopaedic oncologist,
Manipal Hospitals, Dr Srimanth B S, said the case was unique because of the location of the tumour — in the lower leg (distal tibia). The challenge, he said, was not only to remove the large infected tumour, but ensure the area was reconstructed in such a way that the foot would be functional, too.
Senior consultant orthopaedic surgeon, Manipal Hospitals, Dr
Deepchand Bhandare, said considering the boy's complex case, a multidisciplinary approach was taken involving a lot of planning and many hours on the operating table.
The boy, who hadn't walked for one year is now free of pain and heavy medication, he added.
