Doctors remove world's largest malignant tumour weighing FOUR STONE from woman, 54

By Gerard Couzens
Last updated at 4:02 AM on 26th August 2010

Doctors have removed a tumour weighing nearly four stone from a woman in Argentina. It had been growing inside her body for 18 months.

The huge three stone 8.7lbs growth was taken out of the 54-year-old's womb during a four-hour operation at a hospital near the capital Buenos Aires.

The unnamed patient was discharged weighing just over 16 and a half stone - five stone 7lbs less than when she was admitted.

Medics say they believe the malignant tumour is the biggest ever removed in the world. Malignant tumours of this type usually weigh between 4lbs and 7lbs.

Lead surgeon Dr Oscar Lopez said: 'I've never seen anything like it in my 34 years of medical service.

'In medical literature a giant tumour is one that weighs more than 8.8lbs. But we've not found any references to a larger tumour.

'Its weight is comparable to that of a four-year-old boy's. In layman's terms, it was as if this woman had been pregnant with quintuplets.

'I haven't been able to establish its length but it's diameter is similar to the oil cans they sell in petrol stations.'

The woman, who comes from the town of Lomas de Zamora on the outskirts of Buenos Aires where the surgery took place, had suffered constant abdominal growth for the past year and a half.

She had trouble performing everyday tasks like walking and bending down to tie up her shoe laces.

She was referred to Gandulfo Hospital, where surgeons operated on her, from another medical centre.

A team of specialists performed a laparotomy on the woman. This meant they cut through her abdominal wall before separating her intestines and bladder and removing her uterus, ovaries and the tumour.

The woman is now back at home after being kept in hospital for five days following the operation.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1305990/Doctors-remove-worlds-largest-malignant-tumour-woman--weighing-FOUR-STONE.html