Delhi hospital successfully removes cyst from lung without open chest surgery

Doctors at a hospital here performed a "first-of-its-kind" procedure and removed a ruptured hydatid cyst from the right lung of a 45-year-old woman without conducting an open chest surgery.

Doctors at a hospital here performed a "first-of-its-kind" procedure and removed a ruptured hydatid cyst from the right lung of a 45-year-old woman without conducting an open chest surgery. The cyst, formed by the larvae of tapeworms, was taken out through the patient's mouth under local anesthesia. Post the procedure, the patient showed instant relief from symptoms such as breathlessness and was able to sleep for the first time in two months, for 14 hours at a stretch.

Doctors at the BLK hospital said Ruhi-Un-Nisa, a resident of Srinagar, showed initial symptoms and discomfort in July this year when she spit blood while coughing. She underwent a CT scan of the chest which revealed 43 X 35mm cyst (equivalent to a size of tennis ball) in superior segment of lower lobe of right lung. Ruhi-Un-Nisa was unable to lie down and had not slept for close to two months. She had severe difficulty in breathing. She went to a hospital in Kashmir where she was advised to rush to Delhi for emergency treatment. "The patient came with severe breathlessness and constantly felt a salty-bitter taste in her mouth. We suspected the symptoms to be caused by a ruptured hydatid cyst,” a doctor said. Hydatid cysts are known to trigger an extreme life-threatening allergic reaction in some patients. This was one of a rare case of hydatid cyst whose removal was a challenge due to its positioning and breakage. These membranes are so fragile that they tend to break easily on clasping. The team led by Dr Sandeep Nayar, HOD, Chest and Respiratory Diseases, flushed out the spilled fluids and contents from both lungs. He then excised the ruptured membrane of hydatid cyst with the help of a cryoprobe, a surgical probe to apply extreme cold to body tissues and freeze them. The membrane was frozen and extracted through the mouth and it gave immediate relief to the patient from her symptoms. Humans are accidental hosts of the long tapeworm and become infected by handling soil, dirt or animal hair that contains its eggs. The highest occurrence of hydatid cysts are found in states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Jammu and Kashmir. These are caused due by larvae of a long tapeworm (Echinococcus granulosus) found in animals like dogs, sheep, cattle, goats, and pigs. The most common sites of occurrence inside human beings are the liver (55-70 per cent) and lungs (18-35 per cent). Unusual sites can be kidneys, heart, spleen, brain, ovaries, etc (8-10 per cent).

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