Doctors successfully remove 4-pound brain tumor, bigger than head itself

Indian doctors remove four-pound brain tumor

Surgeons in India successfully removed what they think is the largest brain tumor on record, weighing in at 4 pounds.

Surgeons in India successfully removed what they think is the largest brain tumor in record, weighing in at 4 pounds.

Ever since he was the age of one, Santlal Pal lived with swelling of the scalp, heaviness, headaches and poor vision in both eyes.

Leading up to surgery, scans revealed the tumor had invaded the brain on both sides of the midline through his skull bone. The patient's scalp had swelled up so much, he appeared as if he had two heads.

Scans revealed the tumor had invaded the patient's brain on both sides of the midline through his skull bone. His scalp had swelled to 30 x 30 x 20 cm and appeared as if he had two heads on top of each other. (© SWNS.com)

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"Such large tumors are rare and are a surgical challenge,” Dr. Trimurti Nadkarni, the lead surgeon, told news service SWNS.

During the seven-hour surgery, doctors removed the massive tumor along with skull bone which had moved into the brain.

The cloth seller, who is 31 years old, has made a remarkable recovery following a transfusion of 11 units of blood and three days on life support.

"There was a heavy blood loss and this required great team skill in perioperative monitoring for a successful result," Nadkarni said.

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He also told the International Business Times that his team checked all the available medical texts and did not find any tumor as big as this.

“In fact, the tumor was much bigger than his own head,” he noted.

The surgeon said that he had removed a tumor that weighed 1.4 kg (3.08 pounds) from a patient in 2002.

Nadkarni was pleased with the outcome of the new case.

"The patient has made good recovery and is now ambulatory and on full diet," he said. "He feels relieved of a large burden on his head.”