Doctors Remove 30-Pound Tumor From 25-Year-Old Man's Chest In High-Risk Surgery

In a high-risk surgery, the doctors at a private hospital in India removed a 30-pound tumor from the chest of a 25-year-old man.

The Fortis Hospital in the northern city of Gurugram claimed this was likely the world’s largest tumor removed from a person’s chest, according to local reports Thursday. The doctors at the hospital said, citing medical literature and published papers, the largest tumor removed till date prior to the latest case was in the state of Gujarat in 2015, and weighed 20.9-pound.

The patient, identified as Devesh Sharma, was brought to the Fortis Hospital in a very critical condition. He couldn't breathe and had a feeling of discomfort in his chest, according to Live Hindustan [Google Translate showed]. The report also stated for the last two to three months, Sharma was unable to even sleep lying straight on the bed due to shortness of breath.

During tests at the hospital, it was found the man had a large tumor that had occupied 90 percent of the chest. The tumor had not only covered the heart, but also moved both the lungs from their places.

“The tumor, owing to its vast size, couldn’t be removed through minimal invasive surgery. We had to open both sides of the chest and cut the chest bone in between to take it out, which took us nearly four hours,” Dr Udgeath Dhir, director and head, at the hospital said, according to The Times of India.

“This was a high-risk surgery due to the bulk of the tumor, which had occupied the entire chest, making it difficult to operate on multiple vessels as the neck of the tumor couldn’t be controlled and its capsule cannot be breached,” the doctor said, adding that throughout the process, maintaining adequate blood flow was of paramount importance to the patient.

The surgery had to be conducted with precision as even the slightest of errors could turn fatal for the patient, Dr. Dhir reportedly said.

Speaking to local media, Sharma said his weight had increased to 180 pounds in the past few months. But, after the surgery, he "started feeling very light" and his body weight had become 152 pounds. It remains unclear on which date the surgery was conducted.