A surgery that would have cost several lakhs of rupees at any private hospital was performed successfully by the Plastic Surgery Department of Osmania General Hospital (OGH), free of cost.
Seven-year-old Varun, son of Begum Bazaar residents Kavitha and Murali, had a swelling in the right thigh for the past three years. He was taken to various private hospitals and NIMS; he was diagnosed with Arterio Venous malformation, encircling the major blood vessel which supplies to the leg.
Risks involved
If the vessel suffered damage while removing the tumour, the child faced the risk of losing the limb as the malformation was closer to the vessel and nerves. Any damage to the nerves could have led to paralysis while damage to the vessel would have resulted in loss of blood and gangrene. Private hospitals said the surgery would cost ₹6 lakh to ₹8 lakh; at NIMS, the figure was put at ₹2 lakh to ₹3 lakh.
His parents approached OGH as they could not afford private hospital treatment and consulted plastic surgeon Palukuri Lakshmi. After consulting with Professor of Cardiology Dr. Imamuddin, the boy was sent for an angiogram and CT angio. With cooperation of radiologists Vijaya, Nadeem and Ayesha, the team of doctors could know the exact location, number of feeder vessels into the tumour from the major vessel.
Finally, Varun was operated upon and Dr. Lakshmi meticulously removed the AV malformation without any damage to the major vessel. She was supported by assistant surgeons Baliram, Kiran and all post-graduate doctors. Dr. Anupama was the anaesthetist for the five-hour surgery.
Dr. Lakshmi, chief surgeon of Second Unit, told The Hindu that five to six cases of AV malformation operations are done in a year in the two units of plastic surgery department of OGH. “This type of tumour is not very common and in this case, the malformation was encasing the major vessel of the lower limb,” she said.
Road to recovery
The patient, operated upon two days ago, is recovering well and will be discharged in about 10 days, she said.
