Doctors at the Kirov Regional Clinical Hospital in Kirov, Russia were left baffled as the patient, 65, said he’d tried using ointments to treat the ‘3-litre’ tumour over 16 years
A man attended hospital with a giant head-sized tumour in his neck after avoiding hospital treatment for nearly two decades – as he thought it would “go away on its own”.
Doctors at the Kirov Regional Clinical Hospital in Kirov, Russia were left baffled as the patient, 65, said he’d tried using ointments to treat the head-sized tumour and hadn’t consulted doctors. As a result the man lived with the growth, which weighed down his neck, for 16 years.
The man’s tumour was confirmed by doctors as a lipoma, a soft and fatty lump which grows between the skin and a layer of muscle. It is typically painless and harmless, especially if treated. Lipomas are most common on the back, shoulders, chest, arms and thighs but can appear anywhere on the body.
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Speaking to local outlet Izvestia, surgical department lead Igor Popyrin, said: “Usually, such a tumour grows slowly and painfully, so many patients postpone a visit to a specialist, hoping that the formation will disappear on its own.
“The exact cause of lipoma has not been identified, but it can be caused by fatty metabolic disorders, genetic factors, and clogging of sebaceous glands. There are many cases of late visits to the hospital.”
But he warned: “Lipoma does not disappear naturally, and surgery is the only treatment. If the tumour is left unattended for a long time, it can turn malignant or compress surrounding tissues, so early treatment is necessary.”
“If the lipoma grows, then no ointments or folk remedies will help. The only effective treatment is surgical removal,” Popyrin added.
According to the Mayo Clinic, Lipomas typically remain sponge-like and grow between an inch or two, but can continue to grow and even spiral in some cases.
Surgeons performed the removal with inch-perfect precision, as they had to remove a cluster of smaller tumours around blood vessels and nerves. And due to its hulking size, the man was required to lie on his side throughout the procedure as it was impossible for him to lie on his back.
Doctors also had to guess where his neck started and ended, by estimating and then drawing a line to mark it out. “Fortunately, it did not invade the surrounding tissues,” the hospital said in a statement. “A lipoma the size of a 3-litre container was the largest ever removed by the surgery.” Miraculously, the man survived the ordeal and is recovering after the major operation.
It comes after a man had a giant five-inch-long ‘devil’s horn’ removed from the back of his head this year – after living in agony for three years. The unnamed patient, 30, had been in excruciating pain while living with the unusual growth – to the point that simply going to bed was a major problem.
The huge horn was cut out from the man’s head under general anaesthetic, and was immediately sent away to test for cancer, while the patient recovered at home living with a new sense of freedom.
Vascular surgeon, Ruzil Khurmatullin, removed the corneal keratoma growth under general anaesthetic. Doctor Chelny, in Russia, said it was the first time in his quarter-century as a surgeon that he had performed such an operation.