The massive tumour covered her entire abdomen (Representational Image)
In a very critical operation, a team of doctors in Italy removed an ovarian tumour weighing 19 kg from a 54-year-old woman, Newsweek reported. The woman complained of a sense of heaviness and constant pain in her lower abdomen, weeks later she was undergoing emergency surgeries to remove a 16-inch mass from her pelvis at the Sant'Anna hospital in Turin.
According to Newsweek, the hospital described the mass as "an ovarian tumour of record dimensions." The hospital said that the patient was diagnosed with an ovarian cyst in 2019 of just under 3 inches. At that time, the doctors told her that it was not malignant and therefore not a cause for concern.
Four years later, the massive tumour covered her entire abdomen. She was admitted to the hospital for emergency treatment and, after a series of examinations, her doctors confirmed the presence of an ovarian mucinous neoplasm in its first stage, the media outlet report said.
The team of doctors said that the patient was extremely 'lucky' to have had the cancer diagnosed and removed before the situation got worse.
In a statement, the hospital said, "The immediate intervention markedly changed the patient's prognosis, restoring her excellent quality of life."
Ovarian cancer is the uncontrolled malignant growth of cells in the ovarian tissue. The ovaries are almond-shaped organs in the lower part of the woman's abdomen which produce ova and female hormones. Though ovarian cancer is an uncommon form of cancer, it usually occurs in women older than 50 years. This form of cancer is often called the "silent killer" because the symptoms fail to show up until a late stage of the disease. Also since the ovaries are located deep inside the abdomen, they are not easily accessible for examination.
The exact reason for the cancerous growth of cells is not known. There are certain factors that do not cause cancers by themselves, but make a person more at risk for the development of cancer.