Watermelon-sized tumour in pregnant woman's ovary stuns doctors

Doctors at LTMG Sion hospital were in for a surprise when they spotted a huge tumour, the size of a watermelon, in the ovaries of a 26-year-old woman who had come for delivery.

According to the doctors, the lady, a resident of Sion, was referred by a private hospital as a high risk patient.

"She came to us a month and a half back and registered with us for delivery. Since she had two C-section deliveries previously, we scheduled her for C-section delivery," said Dr Niranjan Chavan, professor, gynaecology department, Sion hospital, who anchored the surgery.

The woman, who was 36 weeks pregnant, delivered a baby boy weighing 2.7 kg. "The C-section went off smoothly. Just before we could close the cut, while cleaning the lateral part of the abdomen, we observed a huge mass presence,"said Dr Chavan.

Everyone in the operation room was surprised as there was no mention of any tumour in her case history.

"We were not aware of the presence of tumour as her medical reports didn't mention anything. There was no indication that she was carrying a baby and a huge tumour. Since we had opened her up for delivery, we decided to remove the tumour," said Dr Chavan.

The tumour was aspirated. "We managed to salvage the ovaries. While we are still surprised on how the tumour was missed, it luckily didn't have any impact on the child and it was a benign tumour. Both the mother and the child are safe and will be discharged soon," said Dr Chavan.

Being a tertiary care hospital, Dr Chavan said that they have seen ovarian tumour in pregnancy but what made it the rarest of rare case is the fact that it was detected only on operation table.

"This was the 43rd ovarian tumour case in a pregnant woman that we have witnessed so far. Worldwide, the incidence of ovarian cancer during pregnancy is 1:15,000," said Dr Chavan.