Rare tumour surgery saves 70-year-old woman

KOLKATA: A 70-year-old woman with a rare pre-cancerous tumour in the liver underwent a complex surgery where 80% of her liver was removed. A successful surgery later, Kabutri Devi is now back home.

The Hooghly resident had been suffering from upper abdomen pain, vomiting and fever and had been losing weight. AMRI Hospitals Dhakuria doctors detected biliary cystadenoma in the liver, a rare benign neoplasm of the liver with less than 200 cases being reported across the globe. Though most tumours are benign, they have the potential to turn malignant if left unattended. “We removed almost 80% of liver in a bloodless surgery, where the patient did not need any blood transfusion,” said Dr Suddhasattwa Sen.

The GI surgeon said being in the middle of the liver, the tumour posed a challenge. But the team did a left-extended liver resection, removing 80% of it in two hours. “The tumours can cause a rare cancer if kept in the body for long. The biopsy has not indicated malignancy,” Sen said.