Sassoon Hospital docs successfully perform rare angiofibroma surgery

PUNE: A 23-year-old youth complained of nose block and suffered from bleeding nose for last six months. After this, he visited Sassoon General Hospital (SGH) where he underwent a surgery for angiofibroma that is a blood tumour in nostrils.

Nasopharyngeal angiofibroma, also called juvenile nasopharyngeal angiofibroma, is a histologically benign, but a locally aggressive vascular tumour that grows in the back of the nasal cavity. It most commonly affects adolescent males and may grow into fissures of the skull and may spread to adjacent structures.

Speaking to Sakal Times, Dr Sameer Joshi, Head of Department of the Ear, Nose and Throat Surgery (ENT) Department said the condition of angiofibroma occurs only in young men.

“It is a very rare condition where a blood tumour is formed behind the nose and below the brain. Hence it is next to the brain the area where the tumour is crowded and has a lot of blood flow which makes the surgery very complicated,” said Joshi.

He added that the patient who was admitted had a tumour 0.5 cm away from the main artery which supplies blood to the brain. 

“Reducing the blood flow there was a very important part. Dr Ibrahim Ansari and Dr Kiran Naiknavre from the Radiology Department did angioplasty a day before the actual surgery. In this angioplasty, the blood supply near the tumour was significantly reduced,” said Joshi. He added that after a day of angioplasty, the main surgery was done.

“In the main surgery, we had to cut off the tumour after separating it from the base of other bones. And this tumour was removed safely. The surgery was done successfully on Tuesday. The patient is still admitted with us and his health is improving,” added Joshi.