Mumbai: 13-year-old girl with ovarian cancer operated upon

When a 13-year-old girl was admitted to LTMG Hospital in Sion on November 27 with acute abdominal pain, a ‘baby bump’ and who tested positive in urine pregnancy test, doctors were baffled.

An ultrasound and CT scan revealed that she had a rare tumour in her right ovary.

During the other tests, the doctors found out that she tested positive because it was a blood hormone secreting tumour.

Dr Niranjan Chavan, professor and unit chief of Sion hospital’s department of obstetrics & gynaecology, said: “We were stunned to see the urine pregnancy test report showing positive as she was too young to get pregnant. Moreover, she had her first menses few days before she was brought to us.”

The ultrasound and CT scan reports showed that Nisha Yadav (name changed), a resident of Belapur, had a rare tumour in her right ovary. “We did some research and got to know that this was one of the rarest of rare tumours in an adolescent girl. Medical literature showed that a doctor had written an article on this after studying 15 adolescent girls with such tumour. Out of 15, two had cancerous tumour,” said Dr Chavan.

Her tumour marker was found to be very high, indicating that it was cancerous. “Luckily, the tumour had not spread. We put her on antibiotics and decided to operate on her after her fever subsided,” added Dr Chavan.

The cancerous tumour was four fingers above the navel and was as large as a 33-week-old foetus. “We successfully operated on her and removed her right ovary. We managed to save the left ovary, uterus and fallopian tube,” said Dr Chavan, who now plans to present the case in a medical journal and upcoming medical conferences.

Quoting medical literature, the doctor added that germ-cell tumours are diagnosed in around 900 children each year.

“Germ-cell tumours account for 16% of all cancers diagnosed in adolescents between the ages of 15 and 19 years and nearly 4% of cancers diagnosed in children younger than 15 years. To our knowledge, this she is the youngest case in India with malignant germ-cell tumour,” added Dr Chavan. 

The girl will have to undergo chemotherapy sessions. 

Dr Avinash Supe, dean of Sion hospital, congratulated the department for the successful operation.

Shocking results
The ultrasound and CT scan reports showed that the girl had a rare tumour in her right ovary. The cancerous tumour was four fingers above the navel and was as large as a 33-week-old foetus