(rptg, adding addl matter)

Mumbai, Aug 10 (UNI) Mumbai-based Beams Hospital has entered into Guinness Book of World Records by ''laparoscopically'' removing the heaviest fibroid weighing 3.4 kg from the uterus of a 36-year-old woman.

Addressing reporters here today, Dr Rakesh Sinha, leading Endoscopic surgeon and Managing Director of Beams Hospital said, ''It is a matter of great pride that we could perform this surgery here and it is a clear signal to the world that medical expertise is of the highest standards in India.'' He said that the heaviest fibroid weighing 3.4 kg and measuring 20 x 12 cm was removed by a team of surgeons led by Dr Sinha and Dr Neeta Warty in an operation that lasted almost five hours on December 25, 2000.

After the operation, doctors from Beams Hospital sent their claim to Guiness Book of World Records, from where it received a message on August 2, saying their record had been accepted and would be entered into their database When asked as to why it took them so long - five years to be precise - to get into the Guiness Book of World Records, Dr Sinha said this was because there are over 60,000 claimants internationally who send their achievements for entry every year.

''As of today, we have removed about 1,000 fibroids laparoscopically,'' he said adding that in India, approximately 25 million women between the ages of 18 and 50 are at risk from fibroids. The greatest truma of having a fibroid is that it can hamper pregnancy and child birth besides causing discomfort and pain.

So far there is no answer to the recurrence of fibroid formation in this age group, but majority of fibroid cases were found in late marriages and delayed pregnancy, Dr Sinha added.

He said that the fibroids do not respond to medical drugs and requires surgical intervention if they cause symptoms or grow abnormally. He said that some injections are available but it gives temporary relief to the patients by way of downsizing the fibroids for few months.

Dr Sinha said that it was the time to create awareness among women about the new technology to remove fibroids as it has become ''patient-friendly'' and they need not be in the hospital for not more than a day.

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