Mumbai doctors remove world's largest ever kidney tumour

Five months after operating on a Patna stock broker, doctors at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital (KDAH) have realised that they have created a world record of removing the largest tumour (6.9kg) from a patient's kidney.

The earlier record was for 5.018kg. The hospital is now in the process of getting itself a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Dr TB Yuvaraja, the head of robotic surgery and consultant uro-oncologist at KDAH, said: "According to general and medical literature, this is the heaviest tumour to have ever been removed, since the largest tumour in the kidney till date weighed up to 5.1kg. Based on this confirmation, we applied for a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. While the department at Guinness has verified facts and informed us that we could apply for the heaviest tumour category, we are now following the due application processes."

The doctor added that Amresh Kumar (40), the patient concerned, had approached the hospital in December last year with severe abdominal pain, weakness and weight loss. "He had a history of sustained intense bloating of the body, severe pain in stomach, weakness and weight loss for about six months. He had seen a local practitioner in Patna," Yuvaraja said.

The doctor also said that Kumar was referred for surgery after tests confirmed that he had a malignant tumour in his left kidney. "The doctors in Patna refused to operate on him as the tumour was huge, making him fall in the high-risk category. We took him in for operation within a week of him approaching us," Yuvaraja added.

Kumar was finally operated on on December 29, 2015.

The doctor said that since the size of the tumour was too big, laproscopy was not an option. "We had to go for open surgery. The tumour was huge and heavy. We weighed it and were stunned that Kumar was carrying a 6.9-kg tumour in his kidney," Yuvaraja said.

During the surgery, the doctors blocked the artery to avoid excess bleeding and had to remove the diseased kidney. "Cancerous tumours are becoming more common. Generally, we take a sonogram to detect tumours. We get 100 to 120 cases per year. However, this is a rare case," Yuvaraja added.

While the team of KDAH doctors are in the process of getting themselves a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, they are also planning to send the details of their accomplishment to international and national medical journals.

Reacting to the case, Dr Sujata Patwardhan, head of the department of urology at KEM Hospital, said, "I am not aware about such a big tumour ever being removed."

Dr Umesh Oza, a urologist from Bombay Hospital, said: "It's a good thing that this surgery was performed since the kidney is an important part of the body and taking out a kidney and operating on the tumour is a good thing."