Vicky, 37 years old, a native of North West Delhi, was diagnosed with a huge tumor that covered the left side of his face. The incident occurred in New Delhi. The malignant growth was located on the left side of his face and was dangling there. In addition to an abnormally high rate of bleeding, it included large amounts of cells that had passed away and were in the process of decomposing. Because of the enormous tumor, Vicky had a very difficult time opening his lips, chewing food, or even turning his head from side to side. He also had trouble swallowing. Over the course of the last several months, he had a bad diet, which caused him to lose a significant amount of weight. In March of this year, he checked into Max Hospital, which was before the lockdown.
“The patient noticed early signs of the disease in the beginning of this year,” Dr. Saurabh Gupta, a Consultant in Surgical Oncology at Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh, who conducted the operation, said. “The patient underwent surgery today.” Even though the tumor was enormous, it had not yet spread to any of the other organs in his body, which was an incredible stroke of luck. In light of the rapid expansion of the tumor, which was also causing an excessive amount of bleeding, we came to the conclusion that it was imperative to perform a life-saving operation as soon as humanly feasible. Any longer delay might have increased the likelihood that the cancer spread to other regions of the body, such as the bones, lungs, or liver. The most prudent course of action was to have surgery and have the malignant tumor removed.
In order to reduce the size of the tumor in preparation for surgical removal, the patient was required to go through two rapid rounds of chemotherapy in the space of three weeks. On April 30, the patient had a procedure that lasted for 11 hours in the operating room. The malignant mass was meticulously removed by the surgeons as a single piece that weighed 3 kilograms, measured 18 centimeters by 12 centimeters, and had a depth of 8 centimeters; this was about the size of a typical human head.
The left half of the patient’s jaw, his cheek bone, the skin surrounding his face and neck, and the lymph nodes on both sides of his neck were all surgically removed.”The surgery was extremely difficult because the tumor had to be removed in one piece, and the face and neck had to be reconstructed so that the patient could eat normally and speak normally,” Dr. Saurabh Gupta said further.
“For reconstruction of the patient’s face and neck, we took skin and muscles from the left side of his chest and right thigh,” said Dr. Vipin Bhathwal, Associate Director of Oncology Reconstructive Surgery at Max Hospital in Vaishali, Ghazabad. After that, we meticulously sculpted the facial features so that they would seamlessly integrate with the facial skin and would not inhibit the patient’s range of motion after the operation. There is no question that this was a very difficult and intricate case. On the other hand, we were resolved to do all in our power to offer the patient a second chance at life.
The operation was a smashing success, and the patient had a smooth and uncomplicated post-operative recovery. They were able to go home from the hospital after 11 days there. Following the completion of an additional three months of chemotherapy and radiation, Vicky will be able to eat and talk normally, and he will be able to resume his daily routine just like any other healthy people.