A team of doctors at the Vadakara Cooperative Hospital last month performed two simultaneous surgeries on a 60-year-old man from Kasaragod: one to remove a tumour from his heart and the other to clear three blocks in the arteries.
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Shyam K. Ashok, senior cardio thoracic surgeon, told the media on Wednesday that the tumour was 33-mm-long and 28-mm wide. Normal size of a heart ventricle is 20 mm X 33 mm. He said that the surgeries took five hours. The patient was referred to the hospital after he complained of breathlessness.
Dr. Ashok claimed that such tumours are reported only in three or four persons, especially women, among a population of 10,000. What made the condition critical was the need to remove three blocks in the arteries. The tumour was so big as it completely blocked the pumping of blood into one of the ventricles.
Another challenge was to stop parts of the tumour reaching other parts of the body while it was being removed. That could have led to problems such as stroke or kidney failure. The functioning of the heart was stopped during the surgery and artificial support was given. Dr. Ashok said that the patient could be discharged four days after the surgeries.