Nine-kg tumour removed successfully

A man carrying a 9 kg tumour, like an albatross hanging from the left neck and chest wall, for the last 30 years had the affliction removed after successful surgery at the premier Calcutta Medical Research Institute.

A resident of Selmabad village of Potashpur in East Midnapore district, 40-year-old Siddhartha Khatua, was suffering from a condition called Multiple Neurofibromatosis, CMRI sources said today.

He consulted several doctors, but surgery could not materialise. He was left no choice but to live with the tumour till he met some people who agreed to bear the medical expenses of the surgery, the sources said.

"They contacted Anupam Golash, consultant plastic, cosmetic, craniofacial, hand and micro surgeon at CMRI, who agreed to perform the surgery with assurance of safety and it was done on February 8 for four hours," they said.

"The medical team had to encounter another challenge to perform this surgery without causing much blood loss as Khatua was anaemic and also had a rare blood group," the sources said.

He is recuperating well and was released today.

Recent advancements in the field of medical science and the infrastructural facilities at the hospital allowed doctors to carry out the complex surgery "effectively and efficiently," they added.