Jaw dropping tumour : Doctors remove rare tumor weighing 1.5 kg from 7-year-old’s jaw

Jaw dropping tumour : Doctors remove rare tumor weighing 1.5 kg from 7-year-old’s jaw

Sagaya Fernando

Mumbai: 19 September 2019

Doctors in Chennai, India, were left flummoxed when a 7-and-a-half-year-old boy approached them with a heavily deformed face in the last week of July. After conducting CT scans and x-rays, besides various examinations and learning about the patient’s family medical history, the doctors arrived at the conclusion that the boy was suffering from Familial Gigantiform cementoma of mandible – a very rare benign fibrocemento-osseous lesion of the jaw.

“Only 55 cases have been reported worldwide, with only 13 cases reported in Asia. This is the first such case reported in the Indian subcontinent with diagnosis of Familial Gigantiform cementoma,” informed Dr G Vimala, the Dean of Tamil Nadu Government Dental College & Hospital, Chennai, where the boy underwent surgery.

“The boy, Ebenezer, had come to us with complaints of massive growth in the lower jaw. The tumour in his jaw was noticed a year and a half ago, and it had grown to a massive proportion in the last six months. There was a medical history of similar growth in patient’s mother, aunt and grandmother but not to this extent. The patient’s family was afraid of surgical procedure and was reluctant to take treatment. However, as the boy complained of difficulty in breathing, eating and speaking, they finally approached us,” said Dr Cheruvathur Prasad, Head of the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department of the hospital, who lead the team that conducted the surgery.

“The growth was covering his entire mouth. We performed the surgery on August 2, with general anesthesia. The surgery which began at 9.15 am went on till 4.30 pm,” said Dr Prasad.

Besides Dr. Prasad, the medical team comprised of Dr J Balaji, Dr K Arunkumar, Dr M Arulmozhi and Dr D Priya, Dr Krishnan (anesthetist) and Dr J Muthukumar (pediatric surgeon).

“The tumour was surgically removed, and the boy’s jaw was then reconstructed with titanium plates. The patient recovered uneventfully and was discharged after three weeks of hospitalization,” said Dr Prasad.

He added that the tumour was 12 centimetre x 10 centimetre in size and weighed 1.5 kilograms.

Following the surgery, Ebenezer is now able to breathe and eat well.

We have removed the tumour completely, but there is a possibility of re-growth, so he needs to come for regular review, said Dr Prasad.