Hyderabad doctors save girl with rare 'Rapunzel' syndrome, remove 2 kg of hair from stomach

HYDERABAD:  Telangana’s Osmania General Hospital will now go down in history for having saved a 17-year-old severely malnourished girl with a rare disease called “Rapunzel syndrome”. In this syndrome, the patients tend to consume their own hair due to psychological issues. 

In this case, the girl from Shamshabad had been doing so for the last 5 months and the doctors' team which included the superintendent of the hospital Dr Nagendar B himself retrieved nearly 2 kg of hair which was 150 cm long -- the longest ever reported worldwide from patient’s stomach and small bowel. 

“So far, only 68 such cases have been reported worldwide and the case operated in Osmania General Hospital has the longest ever specimen reported in the world so far as it went up to small bowel as well. In the hospital we have previously treated Rapunzel syndrome once before,” said Dr Nagendar.

 Of the 150 cm of hair, 30 cms was in the stomach and 120 cm in the small bowel.

“The patient was operated on the June 2. She had come to the hospital nearly a month ago with complaints of pain in the abdomen and vomiting. The sister informed us that she had a history of eating her own hair. At that time her treatment could not begin as she was tested Covid positive. She successfully recovered in the Gandhi Hospital and was sent here for surgery,” added Dr Pandu Naik, Department of Anesthesia.

The biggest challenge for the doctors was managing the anesthesia in the malnourished patient who had poor nutrition absorption due to the hair in her digestive system. There were five senior professors from the surgery department and anesthesia department including Dr Pandu Naik, Dr K Rani, Dr G Anil Kumar, and Dr Pavan involved along with various PG Doctors.

“Such cases highlight the potential of the hospitals and the service we are rendering as the only tertiary care and non-Covid hospital in the state during a pandemic,” added Dr Nagendar.