The cysts were removed after a 4 and a half hour long surgery. (Representational)
In a rare surgery, doctors in Chennai have removed 759 cysts from a 29-year-old woman's stomach. The surgery was done at Saveetha Medical College and Hospitals in Chennai.
Doctors said the woman was suffering from peritoneal hydatid disease. The disease is largely prevalent in areas where there is a concentration of stray dogs and sheep, and infects humans due to contaminated water and lack of personal hygiene.
Speaking to reporters in Chennai on Wednesday, professor of general surgery B.S. Sundaravadanan, said the woman had come to the hospital with severe abdominal pain and distension for over three months.
"The patient was not able to take normal food. She used to vomit soon after eating. Ultrasound of abdomen revealed multiple cystic lesions and the CT scan showed four very big cysts occupying about 50 per cent of the abdominal cavity," Dr Sundaravadanan said.
Doctors said the cysts were adherent/supported by liver, portal vein, bile duct, left kidney, large intestine, urinary bladder, large vessels of the right lower limb.
This made the surgery a complex one, as cysts containing very dangerous fluids should be taken out without puncturing them. The fluid inside the cyst could be a killer, doctors said.
"This is probably one of the rarest of the occurrences in medical history. Hydatid disease is endemic in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Liver is the most common sight of Hydatid cyst," Saveetha Rajesh, Director, Saveetha Medical College and Hospital, said.
According to the doctors, the operation took about four-and-a-half hours and the patient was discharged eight days after that with a prescription to take a medicine for preventing a relapse.