Doctors removed one of the world's biggest tumors from a Chinese man's stomach during a successful surgical operation last March. (Photo : Getty Images)
Doctors have successfully removed a 31-kilogram tumor--considered as one of the world's largest--from a stomach of Chinese man, the South China Morning Post reported on Sunday.
Reports from Chinese mainland media said that the surgical operation took place at a local hospital in Wuban in Central China's Hubei Province at the end of last month.
The 45-year-old male patient hails from Xiantao.
Medical reports show that he started feeling abdominal pains as early as three years ago.
The SCMP article noted that the doctors back then have advised him that he had a tumor in the belly. Nonetheless, the patient did not seek any surgery because his family faced financial constraints, hindering him from shouldering the operation's medical fees.
Through benign, the massive tumor was said to be endangering the Chinese man's life.
As a way to counter it, the patient admitted to have taken cheap medications, as prescribed by herbalists. Nonetheless, the tumor kept on growing.
When his family finally decided to send him to a hospital, the patient's abdominal girth already measures 135 centimeters--a size even larger than a woman who is at full pregnancy.
The large tumor has begun squeezing his internal organs including his lungs, the doctors said.
According to reports, the doctors had to make an incision of over 13 inches in order to remove the tumor.
The surgery finished successfully and as what the article said, "the patient has almost fully recovered and can now tie his shoe laces" for the first time in months.
The tumor is reported to be the second largest mass to be removed from a man.
However, the patient still needs to undergo examination every six months in order to check if the tumor comes back. Medical experts stated that there is a high chance for the tumor to regrow although it is considered benign.
