Dr Upendra Bhalerao, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeon at Wockhardt Hospital, Mira Road performed complex thoracic surgery successfully to remove a large football-size tumour located in the right lung and weighing 1.5 kg from a 15-year old young boy and give him a new lease of life during the COVID19 pandemic situation.
A 15-year-old, Byculla resident Pratik Barkade had visited the family doctor with a complaint of breathlessness and cough. Earlier they thought it may be a symptom of COVID 19. To rule out a few investigations were done and a chest CT scan report confirmed a large tumor of size 16cm x 14cm x12 cm arising from the right lung. The patient was referred to Wockhardt Hospital for tumor removal surgery.
Dr Upendra Bhalerao, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeon at Wockhardt Hospital, Mira Road said “Due to the COVID19 pandemic situation many patients are avoiding visits to the hospital. Patient Pratik had this Tumour which kept on increasing with his age. The football-size cystic tumor was compressing on his right bronchus, trachea, and adjoining chambers of the heart. It was causing breathing problems and cough and he needed oxygen to maintain saturation. The tumor could be completely removed by thoracotomy without removing any part of his normal right lung. The pathology examination revealed it as a mature cystic teratoma. primary teratomas arising from the lung are very rare tumors. Mature teratomas are usually benign. They need to be surgically removed as they can cause symptoms due to their size or secondary infection and hemoptysis. Timely intervention and surgical treatment play an important role.”
Mayur Barkade, Pratik’s father, says, “Our son was having severe breathlessness and cough but we were not able to understand the reason behind it. Due to COVID 19 pandemic, we were delaying a visit to Hospital. We were shocked and very concerned when we came to know about the massive size of the tumor. We are grateful to Dr. Upendra Bhalerao and his team at Wockhardt Hospital who provided my son with timely and precise surgical treatment. Now Pratik is doing well and happy to lead his life as normal.”
