Rare tumour removed from woman’s chest

KOLKATA: Doctors at SSKM Hospital removed an 8kg tumour from a 38-year-old woman’s chest on March 10. Koushalya Munshi, a housewife from Howrah’s Bagnan, fell ill two months ago. Doctors at Calcutta Medical College doctors said there was a massive tumour, a rare spindle cell tumour, in the left side of her chest.
Munshi’s family shifted her to SSKM Hospital for the necessary surgery a fortnight ago.“The tumour had compressed the lung, the aorta was pressed hard and the heart was contracting against the tumour. If not removed immediately, it could have injured the lung and the heart, causing other complications,” said Dr Shantanu Dutta, who headed the team of doctors at the cardio-thoracic and vascular surgery department.
A team of surgeons, including Amanul Hoque, Debojyoti Mondal and anaesthetist Dr Soumi were assigned the complicated surgery. “We had to remove half of the tumor to get down to the origin. We had to be extra careful so that other vital organs were not injured,” said Dr Hoque.
The tumour was sent for biopsy to rule out malignancy. Munshi is now recuperating in the ITU.