Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report
This is the moment surgeons remove a gigantic breast tumour “larger than a basketball” after it grew unchecked for two years until it nearly burst through her skin.
Patient Ms Jiang, 47, first discovered the date-sized lump in her left breast in 2017 but opted against surgery or chemotherapy, allowing the malignant growth to feed off her body’s nutrients for some 24 months.
Video Credit: AsiaWire
She finally turned to medics at the Third People’s Hospital of Chengdu, which is the capital city of China’s south-western Sichuan Province, revealing the massive breast tumour 12 inches in diameter and weighing 13 lbs.
Doctor Wu Jian recalled: “She came to our out-patient clinic on 20th September. You could tell something was odd from the start, because she walked in holding up a large object by her chest.
“It was a tumour growth on her left breast which was larger than a basketball.”
National Basketball Association standard ball measures 29.5 inches in circumference.
Doctor Wu added: “She thought she could treat it with more conservative remedies, such as taking medicines and applying ointments, for example.
“But the growth did not disappear and only increased in size.
“The last doctor she saw warned her not to take any more medicine, and to go for surgery instead.”
Doctor Wu said surgery was Ms Jiang’s “only and final option”.
The operation lasting nearly five hours took place on 25th September, with medics successfully cutting out the giant tumour which they said was threatening to “burst through her skin”.
The hospital said the surgery was complicated by blood vessels “as thick as chopsticks” which were supplying blood to the tumour.
The size of the growth also meant having to expose large amounts of her skin and flesh, increasing the risk of an infection.
Doctor Wu noted: “But had she not had surgery, the tumour would have burst through her skin.
“Because of the amount of nutrition it was absorbing, it would’ve caused problems such as anaemia and malnutrition.
“It’s very seldom you see someone willing to let their tumour grow to such a size, to the point where she has to lift it with her hand in order to leave the house.
“Don’t let this happen. It only leads to increased physical trauma during surgery, and further complicates the operation.”
Ms Jiang is still recovering from her surgery but is not expected to suffer any adverse effects from the operation.
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