A 30-year-old adult had undergone a routine X-RAY of the chest as a part of a PHYSICAL check-up, needed at the time of recruitment by the employer at a Clinic in Jammu. However, a routine check quickly turned into a state of concern as his reports revealed severe health problems.
X-RAY showed a coin-shaped shadow in the left lung, which revealed suspicion for Malignancy upon CT SCAN. Therefore, the next step in evaluating such lesions is a CT guided Biopsy. However, the radiologists expressed concerns and risks in doing the Biopsy as the lesion was small and close to a blood vessel – which could cause a life-threatening bleed if ruptured.
The consulting physician in Jammu had offered the patient two choices: either follow up, during which if it was a malignancy, it could spread or start Anti-tuberculosis treatment which was the other differential diagnosis.
The patient decided to take a second opinion at SMVDNSH Kakryal, where he consulted Dr Abhinav Choudhary (Consultant – Surgical Oncology). After reviewing the case, Dr Abhinav decided that the best option for the patient was to remove the lesion entirely through minimally invasive technique or VATS (VIDEO ASSISTED THORCOSCOPIC SURGERY). This technique removes the tumour entirely, preserves the rest of the lung, and causes minimum discomfort to the patient as it avoids big incisions of open surgery.
VATS surgery was performed, and the patient recovered smoothly within two days and was discharged. And the final histopathology showed the lesion was due to infective aetiology. The patient was cured with minimum discomfort, another feather in the cap of Sri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Jammu.
