India set another record in the history of medical sciences when doctors at a Delhi-based hospital removed world's largest tumour 'inside' a human thigh without amputating the leg, doctors claimed on Wednesday.

The tumour which was developing inside one of the legs of the patient was 37centimeters long and 18 centimeters wide and weighed 12 kilograms, doctors claimed.

Praveen Kumar Gupta (18) was admitted to Department of Orthopedics, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) on December 26, 2018 with huge swelling in the left thigh.

The medical investigations revealed that a huge tumour was developing involving the hip and the full length of back of the thigh. Thereon, the surgery was performed on January 3 this year to remove the chunk.

"Preservation of the limb along with successful removal of the tumour was a big challenge.

According to the reported literature, this was the largest tumour ever removed from inside the thigh, without compromising the limb," said Dr Brajesh Nandan, Orthopaedic Onco-Surgeon (SGRH).

According to him, the tumour is world's largest inside a human leg to be removed without amputation. As reported in the world medical literature, the largest earlier reported was 32 centimeters long and 13.5 centimeters wide. It was removed by University of Miami.

Highlighting the complications that were faced during the surgery, Dr Ambrish Satwick, Vascular & Endovascular Surgeon at the hospital said, "The tumour was getting rich by blood supply making it highly vascular in nature. Before the removal, we blocked the blood supply to the tumour to reduce blood loss during the surgical excision a night before surgery."

After cutting the blood supply to the tumour the patient was taken for surgery which was performed on January 3rd 2019, by the team of 7 surgeons.

The surgery took 9.5 hours and only one unit of blood was transfused. Patient recovered well after the surgery and started walking with the help of walking aid from third post-operative day.

The swelling appeared in 2012, and gradually increased to present size. It was so huge and painful that he was not able to walk or sit properly.

As per the sources close to the patient, the patient had consulted many hospitals including All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) which gave a long date for the surgery.