Doctors at the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College (JNMC) in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), have successfully removed a 24-kilogram tumour from the stomach of a patient.

The patient, 45, a resident of Chharra in Aligarh district, had been carrying the tumour in his stomach for almost one-and-a-half years. The tumour was removed from the abdomen by a team of surgeons led by Dr. Shahbaz Habib Faridi, under the supervision of Prof. Syed Hasan Harris (Department of Surgery) through a complex surgery.

Prof. Hasan Harris said, "The patient was suffering from the ill effects of his tumour since 2018. At that time, he hardly knew what he was heading towards, complaining of severe stomach aches. He described how he took painkillers to treat the pain that would start from one side of his stomach and move towards the other side and then to the centre of the abdomen, making it difficult for him to perform routine activities."

He further said that the patient visited hospitals in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, but to no avail. The private hospitals were charging exorbitant fees and many low-budget health centres turned him down due to the pandemic load. "When he reached JNMC, we immediately conducted the pre-surgery investigations. The tests revealed that the only option was surgery, which was rare and risky as the malignant tumour was suppressing his major organs," he said. Moreover, the surgical procedure required resecting around 80 percent of the stomach and there were chances of excessive blood loss.

The tumour was finally removed after a four-hour long surgery and the patient is now recovering. AMU Vice Chancellor, Prof. Tariq Mansoor said, "It is very rare to see the tumour grow to such an extent, but the doctors turned all odds in the patient's favour, giving him a new life."