CHENNAI: Doctors at Lifeline Institute of Minimal Access successfully treated a rare disease called Gastrointestinal Mucormycosis or Zygomycosis, a deadly fungal infection caused by a class of fungi, in a 35-year-old man from Chennai.
According to doctors, in August, the patient approached the hospital with complaints of abdominal pain, discomfort, weight loss, fatigue and nausea. CT and PET scans showed malignancy like formation in the stomach, so the doctors suspected stomach cancer.
“But, the biopsy results were not corelating. So, we had to conduct five biopsies to get the right diagnosis. As biopsies ruled out cancer, we suspected Tuberculosis and others. We spent over two months on the diagnosis. After biopsies were inconclusive, we diagnosed as possible ‘Eosinophilic Gastritis’, a rare disease caused by food-related allergy,” said Dr JS Rajkumar, chairman and chief surgeon, Lifeline Institute of Minimal Access.
Speaking to the press on Friday, Dr Rajkumar said, “Then we put him on a regimen of steroids. But, even after two weeks of steroid therapy, the patient did not show much improvement. We planned for surgery and removed the entire stomach, lymph nodes and fat through a key-hole surgery.”
“This is the second case of stomach fungus operation and he is the first survivor. First was reported from Pune, but the patient succumbed to the infection. The mortality rate in such cases is over 85 per cent. The case report has been sent to an international medical journal for publication,” he added.
A team of six surgeons and an anaesthetist performed the five-hour surgery on October 30 and the patient has been put on anti-fungal therapy treatment. He is doing well, the doctor said.
“People with low immunity, diabetes and alcoholics are prone to this fungal infection. Compared to data from a few decades ago, the cases of fungal infection have been on the rise recently,” Dr Rajkumar said.