Doctors at a private facility in Delhi claim to have accomplished removing 106 fibroids (non-cancerous tumour) from a woman's body while preserving her uterus.

The patient was a 29-year-old woman who was admitted to the BLK Max super speciality hospital in February following severe pain, heavy menstrual flow along with fainting spells and haemoglobin levels at 7.2 mg/dl, a statement issued by the hospital said. The woman had a similar condition back in 2015 and had even lost her sister to the same ailment, the hospital said. Her ultrasound showed multiple fibroids with the size of her uterus being big enough to fill her entire abdomen, it said.

Uterine fibroids are usually non-cancerous tumours of the uterus affecting women of reproductive age. They are also called leiomyomas or myomas which may be present without any symptoms, but sometimes can be the cause of heavy bleeding during periods, anaemia, abdominal pain, or infertility. According to a doctor, what made the procedure more challenging was not just the high number of fibroids, but also that the patient did not want the uterus to be removed. Her stomach looked like an eight-month pregnancy. She didn't want her uterus removed so instead of a hysterectomy we opted for a myomectomy (removal of fibroids).

We planned the surgery in a systematic manner, first improving her haemoglobin levels to 12 mg/dl. The procedure was four and a half hours long. Of all the fibroids removed, at least 14 were very large, between 5 to 8 cm, and the rest ranged from 0.5 to 5 cm in size, said Dinesh Kansal, Director and HOD, Gynecology and Obstetrics at the hospital. The patient, who lost her sister to the same ailment, had undergone a similar surgery at the hospital in 2015, during which 48 fibroids of variable sizes were removed, the statement said. However, her failure to come in for the recommended follow up sessions led to a build-up of fibroids, resulting in the need for the high-risk procedure, it said.

While the patient did need ICU and constant blood transfusions after the surgery, she recovered quickly and was discharged after six days, it added. "We cannot thank the team (of doctors) enough for having performed this miracle. While we were very apprehensive about the surgery, we had faith in the doctors that they would be successful in giving her a second chance at life", the parents of the patient said.