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Friday March 29, 2024

Dow University surgeons remove 3kg tumour from liver of woman

By M. Waqar Bhatti
November 27, 2021
Dow University surgeons remove 3kg tumour from liver of woman

Liver transplant surgeons of the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) have successfully removed a tumour weighing over three kilogrammes (kg) from the liver of a 29-year-old woman.

“Led by Dr Jahanzaib Haider and Dr Muhammad Iqbal, a team of transplant surgeons at the Dow University of Health Sciences, Karachi, has removed a liver tumour from the abdomen of a 29-year old lady,” Prof Saeed Quraishy, the DUHS vice chancellor (VC), told The News on Friday.

The patient, Samina Bibi, was stable and recovering after the removal of the tumour weighing 3.122kg that had engulfed around 70 per cent of her liver and spread to other organs, he said, adding that it was a risky resection but the liver transplant surgeons at the DUHS, who

have been trained by eminent transplant surgeon Dr Faisal Saud Dar, decided to take the risk and successfully performed the surgery on Thursday.

“Although the patient has lost around 70 per cent of her liver due to cancer but following the successful tumour removal surgery, she is doing fine and will hopefully live a normal life afterwards,” the DUHS VC said.

To a query, Prof Quraishy said they had already started liver transplant surgeries for the needy and deserving patients at the expense of the Sindh government, which has pledged to provide Rs145 million for around 50 liver transplant surgeries to such patients.

Interestingly, at the same time on Thursday, surgeons at an Indian hospital in Jaipiur also removed a tumour weighing 8.5kg from the liver of a 54-year-old woman, on whom various hospitals had refused to perform surgery due to high risk.

Dr Muhammad Iqbal, one of the transplant surgeons at the DUHS who was part of the liver auto-transplant performed by Dr Dar at the varsity in April this year, said the 29-year old woman, who was the mother of a small girl, was in extreme misery as the tumour had spread to her entire abdomen and 70 per cent of her liver had been engulfed by it.

“When this patient came to us, some people warned us not to admit her for surgery due to the risk involved but we could not let her go in such a young age,” he said.

Unlike auto-transplantation, Dr Iqbal said, they did not remove the liver completely but only removed the tumour, which was like a big lump of meat. “But like liver donors, she can survive on the remaining portion of the liver. We are monitoring the condition of the patient and she is on the path of recovery,” the expert maintained.

Muhammad Sadaqat, the husband of the patient, told The News that before the DUHC, various health facilities refused to perform the surgery due to the advanced stage of cancer.

“I have visited major hospitals and all of them said that surgery was the only solution but nobody was willing to perform the surgery. Finally, I approached the Dow University of Health Sciences and they decided to take risk,” he said. Sadaqat said they were residents of the Mansehra area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.