Gastroenterologists at Meenakshi Mission Hospital & Research Centre removed a big tumor of the adrenal gland, known as pheochromocytoma, from a 12-year-old girl.
The 14x10cm tumor was removed with the minimally invasive surgical procedure called laparoscopic adrenalectomy.
Laparoscopy is usually used for removing adrenal masses only if the growth is smaller than six cm and adrenalectomy (the traditional surgery with a large incision) is done on patients with pheochromocytoma measuring more than six cm.
In this patient, her obesity, the size of the tumor, and its presence on the right adrenal gland made the 1.5-hour surgery distinctive, the doctors said.
“The patient’s age was a deciding factor for laparoscopy as it involved smaller scar, less discomfort, and substantial benefits in terms of patient recovery,” said the head of gastroenterology Ramesh Ardhanari, who led the team.
The patient from Tenkasi had reported abdominal pain and during scanning for ovarian cyst was also diagnosed with right adrenal gland pheochromocytoma.
“The irregular secretion of adrenalin and noradrenaline causes high blood pressure, palpitations, and headache and it is not possible to perform any other surgery without removing the adrenal tumor first,” Dr. Ardhanari said.
He said this was a feat for his team consisting of senior gastroenterology consultants N.Mohan, Srinivasan Ramachandran, S.Jegadesh Chandra Bose, and Senior Anaesthetist N.Maharajan because to the best of his knowledge, no one else in the world so far has removed the right adrenal tumor of this size using laparoscopy.
The patient was discharged three weeks ago.
Source: The Hindu
Date: 09.10.2021
