3-year-old on road to recovery after rare lung tumour surgery

SLUG: International Childhood Cancer DayVadodara: What began as a seemingly ordinary cough and cold in a three-year-old girl from Nadiad quickly turned into a life-threatening battle that tested her family's resilience and the skill of her doctors. Nearly a year after being diagnosed with an extremely rare and aggressive lung tumour, the child is now clinically well and leading a normal life.
The girl was initially brought to doctors with recurrent cough, cold, and fever — symptoms thought to be viral. But her condition worsened, and she developed respiratory distress, prompting detailed investigations.In Jan 2025, a CT scan revealed an 11x10 cm mass in her left chest cavity. A contrast-enhanced scan showed a massive solid-cystic lesion occupying the entire left hemithorax, compressing the left lung and shifting the heart to the right — a mediastinal shift that alarmed doctors.A biopsy confirmed pleuropulmonary blastoma (Type 2), an extremely rare and aggressive childhood tumour with poor responsiveness to chemotherapy that develops in the lungs and the surrounding pleura (the lining of the chest cavity).She was admitted under paediatric oncologist Dr Urvinder Kaur at Kashiba Children's Hospital.The first two cycles of chemotherapy in Jan and Feb 2025 produced less than 20% tumour reduction. Doctors then switched to a more aggressive second-line chemotherapy protocol from March to May 2025. The child endured three intensified cycles without major complications."Pleuropulmonary blastoma is one of the most challenging tumours in children because it does not respond well to chemotherapy," said Dr Kaur. "When the initial response was limited, we had to intensify treatment quickly. The turning point came when the tumour shrank enough to allow complete surgical removal."By June 2025, imaging showed over 50% regression, making surgery feasible. Senior paediatric surgeon Dr Anand Naregal performed a complete excision of the tumour. The operation was successful, and her postoperative recovery was smooth.She completed three additional chemotherapy cycles after surgery. A PET scan in Aug 2025 confirmed complete metabolic remission. Latest follow-up in Feb showed no evidence of recurrence.The child belongs to a family of eight; her father works in a jewellery shop, and her mother is a nursing assistant.