This story is from January 24, 2015

Doctors operate on woman with 8kg tumours on both breasts

Savita, a farm hand from a small village in Jalgaon, is considered a medical marvel in JJ Hospital’s ward number 19.
Doctors operate on woman with 8kg tumours on both breasts
MUMBAI: Savita, a farm hand from a small village in Jalgaon, is considered a medical marvel in JJ Hospital’s ward number 19. She had walked into the Byculla hospital three weeks ago with 4-kg tumours on each of her breasts, but both turned out to be non-cancerous.
“Medically speaking, she had bilateral phyllodes tumours that are usually malignant. But, in her case, despite the massive size, this synchronous bilateral phyllodes turned out to be benign,” said professor Dr A H Bhandarwar from the general surgery department.

Phyllodes are rare tumour cells that grow in a leaf-like manner within the breasts and account for less than 1% of all breast cancer. “Most phyllodes occur in a single breast and are usually benign, but the risk of malignancy increases when the phyllodes occur in both breasts,” said Dr Bhandarwar.
Problems began for Savita (name changed), who was operated on January 12, almost three years ago. “I started feeling small growth in my breasts, but the local doctors rubbished my fears,” she said. A month ago, the growth suddenly gained in size and became painful. “I could not lie down or even sit for long,” recalled Savita.
She was convinced it was cancer. “Villagers would look at me and say I had cancer. I was quite worried,” she added.
As malignancy could only be established after tests on the surgically removed tissues, JJ Hospital doctors operated on Savita for three hours on January 12. “By the time she came to us, her breasts had become so big that they almost reached her naval. We removed tumour tissues weighing 3.9 kg from her right breast and 4.2 from her left breast,” said surgeon Dr Amol Wagh.
Tests have ruled out cancer, but doctors have asked Savita to undergo regular checks to detect any regrowth. She will be discharged next week.
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About the Author
Malathy Iyer

Malathy Iyer is Senior Editor (Health) at The Times of India, Mumbai. She writes mainly on health-related subjects.

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