Doctors in Kerala remove 4.9 kg uterus from woman

KOCHI - A team of doctors in Kochi in Kerala Wednesday claimed to have created a world record by surgically removing the largest uterus - weighing 4.9 kg - from a 46-year-old woman who was suffering from a tumour.

The five doctors from Sunrise Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) led by Hafeez Rahman achieved the feat using a less-invasive laparoscopic key hole surgery conducted Sep 29.

“The uterus was the world’s biggest one operated upon and removed. In comparison to previous record of 3.2 kg as listed in the Guinness Book of World Record, what we have achieved is good. This shows that patients need not fear that large size laparoscopic procedures are not possible. So they need not resort to open surgeries,” Rahman told IANS over phone.

The procedure involved making a 5 mm incision on the abdomen, and with the help of a camera guide the surgery using a ‘morcelator’ that gradually cuts and sucks out the affected area.

“We believe that this was perhaps the heaviest uterus removed and so we have decided to send the details of the surgery for entry into the Limca and Guinness Books of World Records,” Rahman said.

The patient, a 46-year-old bank employee based in Kochi, suffered from a rare condition.

“The tumour itself resembled a full term pregnancy of about 36 weeks,” Rahman explained.

She had a case of fibroid, a non-cancerous tumour of the uterus. The team of five conducted an operation called “laparoscopic hysterectomy” to get rid of the uterus.

“The huge uterus was removed in a just 28 minutes with minimal blood loss. An open surgery would have meant a lot more blood loss considering size and hence more risk to patient,” the doctor said.

The woman, who declined to be named said she was earlier denied laparoscopic surgery at other medical institutes before she came to the Sunrise Hospital in Kochi.

Rahman said: “She was discharged within 24 hours and has resumed her work at the bank.”

Doctors informed that the uterus will be preserved in the pathological lab of the hospital for professional references.

Rahman is part of a syndicate of gynaecologist-surgeons who try to do 100 free laparoscopic hysterectomy surgeries at camps across the country every month. So far they have managed 15,000 such surgeries.