Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata performed a rare surgery by removing a tumour from the windpipe of an elderly man

Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata saved a 74-year-old man’s life by removing a tumour from the windpipe. The tumour was in the thyroid gland and had penetrated to the windpipe, if left untreated the tumour would have grown in size and blocked the entire airway. It was a challenge for the doctors to operate on the windpipe but our competent doctors at Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata performed the tricky surgery which involved removing a portion of the windpipe and reconstructing it, after removal of tumour.

Mr. Ranjit Kar, a resident of Sunderbans and a retired government employee, had been coughing blood for almost one year. He was initially wrongly diagnosed and treated for tuberculosis. He was bogged down by the bloodied cough even after completing the six-month course of tuberculosis, as suggested by a local doctor. Later, he underwent CT Scan and MRI which revealed a large tumour in his thyroid gland that had encroached into the windpipe. The tumour was bleeding, which in turn caused the blood in the cough.

Despite the risk, Dr Nipun Saha operated upon the patient at Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata on November 21. The Onco-Surgeon took out the portion of the windpipe measuring about 3.5cm that had the tumour. Once it was removed, the windpipe was reconstructed. A tumour from the thyroid gland was also removed. The surgery lasted for six and a half hours.

“The surgery was tricky because we had to operate on the windpipe, which is the tube through which patients are intubated for ventilation support during major surgeries. Even as cancer in the thyroid gland is common, the tumour encroaching into the windpipe is quite rare,” said Dr Saha.

Bypassing the normal intubation route through the mouth, Dr. Saha created a hole in the windpipe below the tumour, though which the endo-tracheal tube was inserted. Patient recuperated well after the surgery and was discharged.