Brazilian surgeons have removed a huge 7.2st tumour from a petite woman measuring just 4’10” tall – with the patient having lived with the mass for five years.
The 45-year-old patient underwent the procedure at the Hospital São José do Avaí in the municipality of Itaperuna in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro on 31 August.
According to doctor Glaucio Boechat, who carried out the operation with around a dozen colleagues, the patient weighed 23.6st – with the mass representing a third of her body weight.
“It was the biggest tumour I have operated on and certainly one of the biggest that anyone has ever removed,” Dr Boechat, who has over 20 years’ experience, told local media.
“It is not every day you operate on a tumour of that size!”
The patient, who comes from the Minas Gerais State but currently lives in Itaperuna, was admitted to the hospital with shortness of breath, believed to have been caused by the tumour.
The medical team carried out an evaluation and decided to remove it immediately during a two-hour surgery.
Doctor Boechat said the patient had been living with the tumour for around five years.
The medical team believed it originated in her uterus but are awaiting final results of a biopsy, expected in 20 days.
The patient is currently in recovery and is “doing well”.
The surgeon added: “There were about 13 or 14 people in the operating theatre. The whole hospital mobilised to perform the procedure for the patient.
“She is doing well, is stable, and breathing without the help of any equipment.”
