Doctors in Russia have removed a 55lbs (25kg) tumour from a woman’s ovary.
The 59-year-old woman had turned up at hospital in severe pain and difficulty breathing.
On further investigation, doctors found huge tumour growing in her abdomen and rushed her straight into the operating room.
Pictures from inside the theatre a surgeon show a surgeon throwing the soft, gigantic growth into a bin.
The 59-year-old woman was rushed into surgery when doctors realised her pain and breathing difficulties were being caused by a giant tumour growing on one of her ovaries
Dmitry Aryutin led a team of surgeons who are seen in the final stages of an operation to remove the colossal growth from the woman’s body.
They snipped the last bits of tissue connecting it to the flesh while Mr Aryutin cradles it in two arms before hauling it up and into a bin which it is too large to fit into.
The growth appeared to be the size of a beach ball and weighed 25kg (55lbs).
Ovarian tumours can grow massive because they often don’t cause any symptoms or, if they do, they’re hard to pin down.
According to the department of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Colorado: ‘In some women, the tumor is so undetectable that it eventually grows large enough to cause pelvic or abdominal discomfort by encroaching on nearby organs.’
Some patients may only notice something is wrong when the growth becomes large enough to press on their bladder or kidneys.
This may cause difficulty urinating or lead to pain in the abdomen or lower back. And even then patients may still put off getting medical help.
Staff at Moscow City Clinical Hospital, where Mr Aryutin did the operation, said in a Facebook post: ‘The case is not unique – our surgeons often come across similarly large tumours.
Surgeons snipped off the last bits of tissue connecting the tumour to the body while chief surgeon Dmitry Aryutin cradled the massive growth in two hands
Mr Aryutin throws the tumour into a bin and then does a small victory dance to celebrate it being removed
‘The reason is often a delay in seeking medical help and the neglect of the patient’s health.
‘Such [tumours] press on the intestines, stomach and diaphragm, causing discomfort and pain, but patients believe that everything will go away by itself.’
Mr Aryutin’s surgery was a success and, at the end of the video, he shakes his hands in triumph and shimmies across the operating theatre.
The patient was said to be recovering well after the dramatic procedure.
Although huge, the woman’s tumour was not even close to being the largest on record.
Doctors in Connecticut, for example, last year removed an ovarian growth weighing a whopping 60kg (132lbs) from a 38-year-old patient.
