Doctors perform 7-hour-long surgery; successfully remove the largest tumor

Uttar Pradesh resident, 31-year-old Santlal Pal, a cloth vendor was unaware of the largest tumor that was growing in his head and lived with it for six years. But his headaches were frequent which he did not pay attention to, after which he was admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery of B. Y. L. Nair Charitable Hospital and Topiwala National Medical College, Mumbai Central. Here, doctors witnessed that Pal had progressive swelling of scalp, heaviness, headaches and diminution of vision in both eyes since one year.


On examination, doctors found that he had a firm scalp swelling measuring 30 x 30 x 20 cms, and it appeared as if he had two heads mounted on top of each other and the scalp vessels were tortuous and dilated. This had made Pal blind.

He was then investigated with CT and MRI scans of the brain where specialised CT angiography was performed to study blood supply in the tumor. The tumor was noted to have invaded into the brain on both sides of the midline through skull bone.

Pal and his relatives were informed about the high risk of surgery who prepared themselves for seven-hour long surgery which was successful. In a seven-hour-long operation, doctors surgically excised the brain tumor by a team which was led by Dr. Trimurti D Nadkarni, Professor, and Head of Neurosurgery, Nair Hospital.


Pal required transfusion of 11 units of blood and was on ventilatory support for three days. The tumor was totally excised along with involved skull bone and that which had invaded the brain. The tumor weighed 1.873 kgs which is the largest weight of a brain tumor to be excised successfully in the world.

Such large tumors are rare and are a surgical challenge. There is a heavy blood loss and this requires great team skill in perioperative monitoring for a successful result. The weight of a similar case reported earlier has been 1.4 kgs. The patient has made a good recovery and is now ambulatory and on full diet. He feels relieved of "a large burden on his head",” Dr. Trimurti D Nadkarni said.

Dr. Ramesh Bharmal, Dean, Nair Hospital stated that Nair Hospital is well equipped to manage such complex cases and yield results at par with best healthcare facilities.