Surgeons at St Nicholas Children’s Hospital of the First Medical Association of Lviv removed a rare and life-threatening mass. The young patient was Maksymko from Lviv region.
The parents found out about their son’s birth defect only at the eighth month of his life, and that was by accident. The boy was ill with acute respiratory viral infection, and when the family doctor examined him, she noticed a suspiciously enlarged tummy and sent him for an ultrasound. During the examination, a giant tumour was found in the baby’s abdomen, so Maksymko was urgently sent to Lviv.
Specialists at St. Nicholas Children’s Hospital performed a CT scan on the boy and saw that there was a benign tumour, a mesenchymoma, right in the centre of the liver. This is a rather rare tumour. It occurs in only two out of a hundred thousand children. Maksym was already born with this tumour. It grew rapidly and damaged healthy tissues.
At the time of the last examination, the size of the tumour had already reached 15 cm, while the liver itself in a child of this age measures 9 by 7 cm. It was urgent to remove the tumour, because without surgery the boy would quickly develop liver failure: he could die or need an urgent transplant.
Before the operation, the doctors had to make sure that the organ would be able to function after the surgery. The specialists found out that Maksymko had only 30% of a healthy liver, which was not enough. Therefore, the doctors first removed the cyst inside the tumour. Thus, they managed to increase the volume of healthy liver to 60%.
Due to the fact that the giant tumour was in the centre of the liver, it was necessary not only to remove the mass, but also to sew two pieces of the organ into one. During such operations, there is always blood loss. To reduce its volume and reduce the risks, the team used the CUSA device, which separates liver tissue with ultrasound without damaging blood vessels.
The eight-hour operation, called a mesohepatectomy, was successful, and Maksym is doing well now. The boy has a healthy liver and will not have any restrictions in the future, will be able to play sports and enjoy life.