Hyderabad, Apr 16 (IANS): Doctors at a hospital in Hyderabad treated a patient with a massive tracheal tumor that was resulting in severe difficulty in breathing.
According to doctors, it is a very rare problem that affects only one out of 1 crore people.
A 58-year-old patient from Nizamabad, with no comorbidities, and no history of smoking suffered from severe cough, fatigue, and fever due to a massive tumor in the respiratory tract. The patient, who was on a ventilator, was brought to KIMS Hospital in Hyderabad, where doctors treated him by removing the tumor, which normally had to be surgically removed, in an alternative manner.
"The patient was rushed to a hospital in Nizamabad after he complained of severe fatigue and breathlessness. Though the doctors there were treating him on a ventilator in the ICU, he wasn't getting any better. So, they referred him to KIMS Hospital for better treatment. By the time he came here, the patient had a severe cough, fatigue, and fever. A bronchoscope shows that there is a large tumor in the respiratory tract. With a width of 1.8 cm and a length of 2.5 cm, it occupied almost 80-90 per cent of the respiratory tract," said Dr. Srikanth Kishan Juvva, a pulmonologist at KIMS Hospital.
"Generally, in men, the width of the respiratory tract is only between 1.5 and 2 cm. If detected earlier, there may not be such a problem. This patient has been suffering for almost three months. These are very slow-growing tumors. It was only occasionally that there was cough and fatigue. But, the condition has worsened in these three months. We can only identify them (such tumors) if they occupy 70-80 per cent of the respiratory tract... Hence it becomes difficult to diagnose in advance," he said.
Normally, such a large tumor is operated upon and removed. But in this case, doctors removed the tumor in an endoscopic method using a device called a rigid bronchoscope.
"... After removing the tumor, we sent it for a biopsy. It was a benign tumor, so that's not cancer. Therefore, in the future, a bronchoscopy will be enough and there is no need to use medicines. Since we have already removed the tumor, the possibility of it growing again is very low. Had it been cancer, it would have increased again," Dr. Juvva elaborated.
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