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MUMBAI: Doctors from the civic-run Sion Hospital have set a new world record by removing the heaviest kidney tumour documented in medical literature weighing 5.5kg. The Guinness World Records recently confirmed their feat.

The team of doctors led by Dr Ajit Sawant, head of urology, successfully operated on Manju Devi, a 28-year-old woman from Bihar’s Darbhanga district, who complained of an “abdominal lump”. She had been living with pain for three years. A CT scan revealed the enormous tumour that had completely replaced the right kidney. The woman’s quality of life was compromised as she struggled to carry on with her daily activities.

“She had persistent pain on the right side and was passing urine in blood. The tumor —31cm by 19cm—was compressing the liver and pushing the vessels, intestines and the pancreas to the left half of the abdomen. She was referred to multiple hospitals over the past three years but the surgery was deferred because of the size of the tumour,” stated a release from Sion Hospital.

The tumour was removed on November 2016 in an eight-hour long surgery performed by Dr Sawant, Dr Prakash Pawar and uroanesthetists Dr Geeta Patkar and Dr Aparna Nerurkar. The Guinness confirmation came only recently, as it takes around six months to validate claims.

“The enormity of the surgery can be understood by comparing the weight of the kidney tumour—5.5kg—with that of a normal kidney, which is 110gm to 140gm,” said Sawant. The patient was kept on ventilator for a day. She recovered completely in a week. Doctors said that Devi has returned to her normal life.

