The boy was admitted with symptoms of breathlessness, high blood pressure and sweating. His conditions along with elevated catecholamine (hormone) levels suggested a tumour in the adrenal gland.
In a breakthrough surgery, senior doctors at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital successfully managed to remove an eight-centimetre tumour from a 14-year-old boy through robotic surgery. The boy was admitted with symptoms of breathlessness, high blood pressure and sweating. His conditions along with elevated catecholamine (hormone) levels suggested a tumour in the adrenal gland.
'Pheochromocytoma is a rare functional tumour in the adrenal gland which leads to high blood pressure. The tumour surgery requires an open surgery, which entails a big cut and a long recovery. Robotic surgery is rarely used in children because of the small size of their abdomen, but in this case, doctors decided to go ahead with the robotic surgery. This was the first time a robotic pheochromocytoma excision in pediatrics was done in India.
"The location and size of a tumour, its proximity to vital organs like pancreas and major blood vessels, coupled with a small abdominal cavity in a child made it a very challenging and robotic platform was chosen to overcome these problems. The additional benefits of small incisions, minimal blood loss and faster recovery in a child made us proceed with robotics," said Dr Vivek Bindal, Robotic surgeon, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.
The child underwent successful removal of the tumour stuck to kidney, pancreas, spleen and large intestine. The keyhole robotic surgery ensured safe dissection one by one.
"This rare tumour required meticulous preoperative preparation. Intra-operatively, beat to beat monitoring was done and appropriate drugs were administered as required. After the surgery, the child was kept in the surgical ICU since inotropes needed to be continued to maintain his blood pressure," Dr Jayashree Sood, chairperson, Department of Anesthesia.
The procedure lasted for 2 hours and the patient was discharged after 4 days without any blood pressure medication. Before the surgery, he was taking three different tablets for blood pressure in high doses.
ABOUT THE TUMOUR
- Pheochromocytoma is a rare functional tumour in the adrenal gland
- The tumour, which leads to high blood pressure, requires an open surgery
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