Mumbai: 24-year-old successfully undergoes rare respiratory disorder surgery

Mumbai: Amol Bhavari, a 24-year-old Pune resident, who couldn’t breathe or speak properly, suffered from recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP), which is a rare disorder characterised by the development of small, wart-like growths (papillomas) in the respiratory tract.

He would undergo surgeries to remove the papillomas after every four months. He got RRP since the age of 3, and till now, he has undergone 54 surgeries. On June 6, 2019, Amol’s 55th surgery took place at Kohinoor hospital. The patient is fine now and can speak and breathe properly.

Childhood is considered as a golden period of life and the memories are forever etched in the heart. But, it wasn’t the same in the case of Amol Bhavari. For him, his childhood was all about battling with recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP), since the age of 3.

After he underwent a test, it was revealed that he suffers from a rare respiratory disorder in which one may develop small, wart-like growths (papillomas) in the respiratory tract.

It is a disease in which benign (noncancerous) tumors called papillomas to grow in the air passages leading from the nose and mouth into the lungs (respiratory tract).

Although the tumors can grow anywhere in the respiratory tract, they most commonly grow in the larynx (voice box)—a condition called laryngeal papillomatosis.

The papillomas may vary in size and grow very quickly. They often grow back after they have been removed. One can get it owing to the human papillomavirus (HPV)/ airborne infection/ if the mother has genital papilloma/ due to inhaling the dust.