Kauvery Hospital gives a New Lease of Life for a 6 Year Old Girl Affected by Renal Cancer

• Pain in the abdomen and swelling in one part of the belly area are some symptoms of Wilm’s Tumour, the most common cancers of the Kidney in Children.

• Pediatric Chemo Ports are useful in providing continuous chemotherapy for children

Kauvery Hospital Chennai, a unit of Kauvery Group of Hospitals, a leading multispecialty healthcare chain in Tamil Nadu, successfully performed procedure to remove a malignant tumour in the kidney of a 6-year-old girl. The child presented with bloating and pain in the abdomen, and she was very weak. After examination, through imaging, PET and a biopsy she was diagnosed with Wilms' tumour, a type of kidney cancer that primarily affects children.

Dr. Sujay Susikar, Surgical Oncologist at Kauvery Hospital Chennai, said, “The 6-year-old female child presented with a mass abdomen. On imaging, we diagnosed it to be a kidney tumour measuring 8cm in size on the right side. A PET scan and biopsy indicated that it was a Metastatic Wilm’s tumour i.e, the cancer had spread to other parts of the body. When we initially treated her with chemotherapy, the tumour that had spread to the inferior vena cava, renal veins and muscles had subsided. After this improvement, we performed a surgery, where we removed the remnant and residual tumour in the kidney. Post-surgery, she was provided with rehabilitation and chemotherapy. Currently she is on maintenance chemotherapy to ensure the cancer does not recur. The child had symptoms for over a month and was in a critical stage, and any further delay could have lead to complication costing her life.”

Chemo ports, an advancement in cancer treatment is a device infused under the skin below the collarbone or the arms, which helps avoid needle sticks for chemotherapy, blood infusions or blood sample collections. It is generally advised in all cancer patients who require multiple cycles of intravenous chemotherapy.

In this way, the survivor need not undergo multiple pricks thus giving them an improved quality of treatment. “We had to give her a pediatric chemo port because getting repeated IV access is difficult and the veins are small and delicate. The children also find it uncomfortable to hold their limbs still for prolonged periods of time. Chemoport in children also needs to be done with special care because of their size and the delicate veins and heart. We started with chemotherapy, a surgery, post surgery rehabilitation and the final stage being radiation therapy. We had a team of pediatric surgeons to assist with this complex surgery, where we removed the kidney, tumour, lymph nodes and surrounding parts. Now she is living with one kidney and is doing well,” added Dr Sujay.

Usually, this tumour occurs in just one kidney, but sometimes both kidneys can be affected. There is no specific cause in the pediatric age group. Sometimes they are genetically associated. Children with Wilms' tumour may experience symptoms like an abdominal lump, bloating sensation in the tummy, weight loss, and sometimes blood in the urine.

Speaking on the success of the treatment, Dr. Aravindan Selvaraj – Co-founder and Executive Director of Kauvery Hospital Chennai, said, “Continuous research in cancer care has paved way for effective treatments with an improved quality of life for patients. Especially pediatric cancer care is seeing a lot of advancements with tailor made treatment modalities from case to case basis. We have a dedicated day care facility for cancer patients to undergo their routine chemotherapy treatments without any hassle. We are providing the right treatment from an expert team comprising Medical, Surgical and Radiation oncologist to treat people diagnosed with cancer. I appreciate Dr. Sujay Susikar and the team of Medical and Radiation Oncologists for using the latest facility and treating the child. She can now lead a normal life like other children, and pursue her education without any worries.”