Woman Undergoes a Rare ‘Dual Surgery’ for Tumors in Heart and Breast at Fortis Hospital

A team of doctors of Fortis Hospital, Vasant Kunj performed a rare dual operation on a 55-year-old woman from Uttar Pradesh. The patient was admitted to the hospital with cancer in the breast. A CT Scan of her chest revealed a malignant mass in her breast and something in her left atrium of the heart.

According to doctors, the mass in the heart was an atrial myxoma – a benign cardiac tumour. The two separate tumours – one in breast and one in the heart- narrowed down the treatment options. The team analyzed the situation and recommended surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, hormonal therapy and targeted immunotherapy for breast cancer.

The team of doctors consisting of cardiologists, oncologist, radiologists, anesthesiologists and critical care specialists, conducted simultaneous mastectomy and open-heart surgery under general anaesthesia. The patient underwent CABG (Open Heart Surgery) first, and after the patient stabilized, the surgery was performed to remove cancer from the breast. The treating doctors were Dr. Tapan Ghose, Dr. Mandeep Malhotra and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

 

“Another challenge was that immunotherapy and other chemotherapy drugs cause weakening of heart, therefore it was important that heart must be at its best to tolerate the treatment,” says Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a Cardiac Surgeon and Cardio Thoracic Vascular Surgeon.  

 

Dr. Mandeep Malhotra, Head, Neck and Breast Oncologist said, "The patient was suffering from stage 3 breast cancer with a benign cardiac tumour. If we operated the heart only while delaying the surgery for the breast, then this could have led to decreasing of patient’s revival rates. And the medical reports showed that she was an ideal candidate for targeted therapy.”

The patient was kept in the ICU for 48 hours and was discharged six days after the surgery.