Oncologists saved a girl with an abdominal tumor the size of a volleyball

Specialists of the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital (RCCB) of the Russian Ministry of Health have treated a three-year-old girl with a giant abdominal tumor. To save the child, doctors used chemotherapy, bone marrow transplantation, radiation and immune therapy, as well as performed the most complicated surgery, the press service of the institution told Izvestia on December 4.

They specified that the young patient from Kabardino-Balkaria had a sharp rise in temperature to 38 degrees, nausea appeared, increased weakness. At the same time, the child refused to eat. Doctors at the place of residence conducted tests and found a tumor measuring 12 cm by 13 cm by 15 cm. It was located from the diaphragm to the small pelvis, squeezing the stomach and intestines.

The girl was referred to the oncology department of surgical methods of treatment at the Russian Children's Clinical Hospital. A set of studies was performed, including tumor biopsy and bone marrow puncture, which allowed to establish the exact diagnosis - neuroblastoma of the retroperitoneal space, stage four with metastases to the bone marrow, lymph nodes in the thoracic and abdominal cavity.

The first stage of treatment was chemotherapy - the child underwent six courses. This relieved the girl's condition: fever passed, appetite improved, motor activity returned. Thanks to the therapy, doctors managed to completely clear the bone marrow from metastases and to take the little girl's own hematopoietic stem cells for their transplantation in the future. The treatment reduced the malignancy of the tumor itself and stopped its growth, but did not practically reduce its volume.

As Ivan Skapenkov, head of the oncology department of surgical treatment methods, explained, the tumor was located just in front of the spine, entangled the aorta and all the vital abdominal vessels that feed the spleen, liver, kidneys, intestines, pancreas, stomach and intestines.

"Any manipulation required us to be especially delicate - rough handling of the vessels could lead to disruption of blood flow in the abdominal organs and their severe damage. Scrupulously, millimeter by millimeter, we moved around the tumor, freeing the organs, aorta and main vessels", - he specified.

The most difficult stage, according to the surgeon, was the separation of the tumor from the pancreas - it does not have a hard capsule, and the formation often grows into the organ, damage to which can lead to the efflux of pancreatic juice and inflammation of the abdominal cavity.

The oncologists were able to separate the tumor without damaging the pancreas and successfully completed the surgery. The intervention lasted 14 hours.

"We removed more than 95% of the volume of the entire tumor. Resection of the remaining part of the mass carried huge risks of organ damage and loss. In the world practice in the treatment of this type of malignant tumors, the remaining cancer cells are exposed to chemotherapy, radiation and immune therapy to achieve remission," Skapenkov noted.

The girl was then transferred to the bone marrow transplantation department of the Russian Children's Clinical Clinical Hospital, where she underwent a course of high-dose chemotherapy to finally eliminate the malignant cells. To restore it after chemotherapy, the patient underwent transplantation of her own hematopoietic stem cells, which were taken earlier. According to the specialists, the bone marrow engraftment went without complications in the shortest possible time.

For greater safety and to minimize the risk of relapse in the future, the child will continue to be observed by specialists and she is still waiting for several stages of treatment - in particular, radiation and immune therapy, added the RDKB. At the same time, doctors state the absence of disease progression and the onset of persistent stabilization of the process.

Earlier, on October 15, Olesya Startseva, a plastic surgeon and professor at the Department of Oncology, Radiotherapy and Reconstructive Surgery of Sechenov University, told Izvestia that a positive trend in recent years is the growth of early detection of breast cancer. According to her, smoking and alcohol consumption have a very big impact on the development of breast cancer. At the same time, she noted that the prevention of any cancer should start at an early age.