Medical miracle in Delhi hospital, woman able to open her mouth after 30 years

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New Delhi: In an unusual incident, a 30-year-old delhi woman Aastha Mongia, who was treated at Sir Ganga Ram hospital in Delhi, was able to open her mouth for the first time. Aastha, who is currently working as senior manager at Punjab National Bank, was suffering from congenital disorder and was brought to the hospital in February.

The woman was suffering from this disorder for the past 30 years. Aastha’s jaw bone was connected to her skull bone from both sides of her mouth, because of which, she could never open her mouth and was alive only on fluids. 

The patient’s family also revealed that with no opening passage in the mouth all of Aastha’s teeths decay gradually. The condition of the patient was crucial and no hospital was ready to operate. The patient and her family had earlier consulted doctors in leading hospitals of India, Dubai and United Kingdoms, before Dr. Rajeev Ahuja, Senior Plastic Surgeon, Department of Plastic and Cosmetic Surgery, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital agreed to take the case. 

"When we saw the patient, we told the family that the surgery is very complex and excessive bleeding can also lead to death on the operation table. We convened a team of plastic surgery, vascular surgery and radiology department and decided to carry out this complex surgery after a lot of deliberations,” said Dr. Rajeev Ahuja.

The team which treated Aastha included Dr. Raman Sharma, Dr. Itishree Gupta (Plastic Surgery), Dr. Ambaresh Sattvik (Vascular and Endovascular Surgery), Dr. Jayshree Sood, Dr. Amitabh (Anaesthesia Team), was led by Dr. Rajeev Ahuja himself. 

The preparation for the surgery started three week before the operation, when a special injection was applied to the patient's face to shrink the blood-filled veins slightly.

The surgery was finally conducted on March 20, 2021. At first, the doctors gradually, while rescuing the veins of the tumor, reached the right part of the mouth where the jaw was attached to the skull and cut it apart. Followed by the left part of the jaw. 

“If the tumor vein was cut by the slightest mistake, the patient could have died in the Operation Theatre,” the doctors revealed.

The survey which took 3.5 hours was successful and Aastha’s mouth on the operation table was opened for about 2.5 centimeters.

Five days after the surgery the patient was discharged from the hospital. At that time Aastha was able to open her mouth upto 3 centimeters. Dr. Rajeev Ahuja said, “the physiotherapy and exercise of the mouth will now open its mouth more.”

"My daughter has suffered a lot in the last 30 years, her mouth did not even open so much that she could not even touch her tongue by hand. Today, after successful surgery, she can not only open her mouth, but also touch her tongue. He can now negotiate in a normal way,” said Hemant Pushkar Mongia, father of the patient.

“I thank God and the doctors for this second birth,” Aastha Mongia said after the successful surgery.