A team of doctors at Sally Mugabe Children’s Hospital has successfully removed a massive four-kilogram Wilms tumour (nephroblastoma) from a four-year-old girl.
The delicate operation, which took nearly four hours, was carried out by a group of local paediatric and neonatal surgeons.
Nephroblastoma is a rare form of kidney cancer that mostly affects children under the age of five. It develops in the kidneys and can occur in one or both.
Dr Kudzayi Munanzvi, one of the paediatric surgeons who led the operation, told The Sunday Mail that the procedure required removing the affected kidney while working dangerously close to major blood vessels in the abdomen. She said:
“The operation was a left-sided nephrectomy for Wilms tumour, which, in simple terms, means removal of the left kidney because it had cancer.
“The large blood vessels — the aorta and inferior vena cava — were dangerously associated with the tumour, so coordination between the surgical, anaesthetic and nursing teams at every step was vital.
“We had to work in perfect sync; otherwise, the patient could have died on the table.”
Dr Munangizo said local surgeons perform two to three similar cancer-related operations on children each week, mostly involving abdominal tumours.
She added that Sally Mugabe Children’s Hospital serves as a referral centre, staffed with highly trained experts, including superspecialists who have received advanced training both within the region and internationally. Added Dr Munanzvi:
“The work that we do is successful not just because of the healthcare workers but also because of the partners who work with us.
“For example, KidsOR is an organisation that equipped two of our theatres.
“We have other partners who assist the paediatric theatre through the Harare Hospital Children’s Trust.
“The ordinary man on the street is also our partner if they are a blood donor — that donated blood has saved the lives of many children.”
“The patient’s mother expressed relief after months of distress.
“Her stomach had grown so much that it was equivalent to a woman in her third trimester of pregnancy.
“Her condition had deteriorated so much and the doctors were even saying the tumour was also draining her blood.”
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