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A medical team from the Eliseo Noel Caamaño Pediatric Hospital in Matanzas successfully removed a mesenteric cyst weighing more than 10 kilograms from Rocío Fagundo Beruvides, a 17-year-old teenager from Jagüey Grande, in a surgical intervention that the surgeon himself described as a medical rarity.
The young woman arrived at the hospital center in Matanzas with severe abdominal swelling. Her mother, Yaima Beruvides, had initially attributed the growth of her belly to her father's genetics until an examination in Jagüey Grande raised alarms and prompted an immediate referral to the pediatric hospital.
The ultrasound revealed the extent of the problem: a large cystic mass that was compressing nearly all the organs in the abdominal cavity.
"Upon arrival at our center, a study mechanism is initiated, and the ultrasound reveals a large cystic mass that was compressing all the organs in the cavity with displacement of the liver, spleen, and intestine," explained surgeon Javier Cabrera Reyes, a second-degree specialist in pediatrics who led the team.
A simple and a contrast-enhanced CT scan confirmed the presence of an intra-abdominal mass, with a high suspicion of a mesenteric cyst. The volume also affected the right fallopian tube and the patient's ovary.
Cabrera Reyes described the case as a rarity that occurs approximately once every 250,000 patients, with fewer than 1,000 cases reported in the global medical literature since the first historical record in 1507.
"It was a major surgery of significant scope," warned the physician, who explained that decompressing the mass causes the inferior vena cava to widen, leading to a relative hypovolemia—loss of blood—that requires critical involvement from the anesthesiology team.
Through a medial abdominal incision, the team consisting of surgeons Diamercy Barceló and Raiko Freire, along with anesthesiologist Guyen Demetrio, successfully removed the mass without any implications for the patient's future health.
"The team of specialists approaches the abdomen through a midline incision and finds a mass weighing approximately 10 kilograms, with characteristics very similar to those described in the tomography," Cabrera Reyes detailed.
The postoperative evolution was satisfactory. Rocío was transferred to an open room and was discharged within a few hours to return home.
The teenager, passionate about drawing and with dreams of becoming a designer, reported that she had not experienced any symptoms beyond the gradual growth of her abdomen. She expressed nothing but praise for the doctors, nurses, and all the staff at the hospital.
The Eliseo Noel Caamaño Pediatric Hospital has a history of high-complexity surgeries: in March 2022, it successfully operated on a one-year-old girl with a macrocytic lymphatic vascular malformation on her face, neck, and chest, and in October of the same year, removed a giant bone tumor from the skull of a 22-year-old young man from Guantánamo.
However, the center has also faced criticism: in February 2026, deplorable conditions were reported in its facilities, with dirty bathrooms, worn floors, and broken furniture, a paradox that reflects the state of the Cuban healthcare system: surgical technical capability coexisting with a deep deterioration of infrastructure.
Rocío only regrets that the scar will prevent her from wearing short clothes, although she acknowledges the fortune of having come out alive: every time she rediscovers herself in front of the mirror, the source says, a deep feeling of gratitude towards the staff of the pediatric hospital in Matanzas will overwhelm her.
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