222 fibroids cleared from uterus of 34-year-old woman

Bengaluru, Nov 9 (IANS) A 34-year-old woman has been given a new lease of life after doctors at a private hospital here removed 222 fibroids from her uterus.

Doctors at the Sakra World Hospital removed 222 fibroids -- including a large cauliflower shaped fibroid measuring up to 20x20x10 cm and many others fibroids of different sizes, weighing 2,250 gm in total -- while preserving her uterus completely, the hospital said in a statement.

Ritika Acharya, a journalist, former TV anchor and aspiring author, suffered from abnormal menstrual bleeding owing to multiple fibroids in the uterus of different sizes and had completely distorted the anatomy of the uterus and were discovered during the surgery.

Upon diagnosis, her uterus was found to be enlarged about eight months pregnancy size and showed a bulge in her lower abdomen. The doctors removed the fibroids using myomectomy surgery that lasted four-and-a-half-hours.

"Ritika Acharya's fibroids, of various sizes like a large cauliflower shape located below the urinary bladder and ureter and numbers, were spread throughout the left side of her uterus, and very near to important structures in the abdomen which made her surgery complicated since the fibroids appeared like a bunch of grapes one after the other," Shanthala Thuppanna, Senior Consultant and Head, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, at the hospital, said in the statement.

Uterine fibroids are non-cancerous growths, made up of muscle and fibrous tissue, and can vary in size and shape. The symptoms include pelvic pain, abnormal menstrual cycles, at times even abortions, premature delivery, bulge in the tummy, urine and motion disturbance.

These fibroids sometime go away by themselves, however, when left untreated, can grow in size and in numbers, resulting in worsening of the symptoms and causing further complications including anemia and infertility.

"Uterine fibroids are usually common in approximately 40-50 per cent women, however, only few will have symptoms. In Ritika's case, she was anemic with heavy bleeding, despite practicing yoga daily and maintaining an active lifestyle and had waited for about a year to undergo the surgery due to Covid-19 pandemic," Thuppanna said.

Post her successful surgery, Acharya's recovery was uneventful, the doctor added.

"For the past two years, these fibroids had been growing inside my body while the symptoms went unnoticed. It still sounds surreal that as many as 222 fibroids were there in my uterus, that made my stomach look bloated and left me in unbearable pain," Acharya said, while thanking the doctors.