Chennai : A 32-year-old extremely obese, young man got a second chance at life after undergoing a challenging and rare cardiac tumor surgery at Fortis Malar Hospital, Chennai. A press relase said that eminent doctors headed by Thejaswi N Marla, Clinical Lead, Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery, Fortis Malar treated the challenging case via minimally invasive keyhole surgery over conventional sternotomy. Elaborating on the case Thejaswi N Marla, Clinical Lead, Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery, Fortis Malar said, “This is the largest cardiac tumor excised in medical history that too by a minimally invasive procedure. We diagnosed the 120 kgs male patient, with a tumour in the right atrium after performing echocardiogram and computerized tomography imaging. The mass in the right atrium was blocking blood flow to the ventricle, which is normally rare in the heart. If the mass had embolized it would have blocked the pulmonary artery leading to immediate death.” “The surgery would have been incomplete if the atrium was not properly reconstructed with sufficient chamber space. The case was challenging as the patient was heavily obese. The conventional sternotomy would have left the patient bedridden for three months. Overcoming the technical challenges like patient safety, establishing proper blood flow through Cardiopulmonary bypass, and anaesthesia risk of hypoventilation, our expert team comprising Dr. Ajeetha P. K and Dr. Naveen Kumar D, Cardiac Anaesthetists successfully removed the mass and gave a new life to the young man. After his first review, the condition of the patient was fine, and his cardiac function is normal” added Dr. Thejaswi N Marla.