The patient, located in Singapore, may have avoided going to the doctor as the fibroid grew over a fear of surgery. (BMJ Case Reports 2018)
A patient in Singapore is reported to be in good health after doctors removed a 61-pound uterine fibroid that was affecting her ability to breathe.
The 53-year-old woman, who was not named in The BMJ Case Report, underwent a complete hysterectomy on an undisclosed date to remove the 26-inch fibroid.
Dr. Ph Ting Lim, an OB-GYN resident at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Singapore, said that the fibroid was taking up the woman’s entire abdominal and pelvic cavity and had extended to the bottom of her breastbone, according to Live Science.
They had to perform plastic surgery after removing the mass to reconstruct her abdominal wall, which had been thinned.
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Lim told Live Science that it’s unclear as to how long the fibroid had been growing in the woman’s body, but that a fear of surgery may have prevented her from having it examined.
He said she may have avoided typical symptoms of bowel issues and abdominal discomfort due to the slow growth of the fibroid, which allowed her body to adjust to its size. The patient did however struggle with movement and shortness of breath, and was largely bed-ridden before having it removed.
Fibroids are typically common in women of reproductive age, with about 70 percent of women developing growths by the time they reach 50, according to Live Science.
However, Lim said that due to the slow growth rate of fibroids, patients typically have them removed before they ever reach the size that his patient’s had.
According to Live Science, the largest fibroid ever removed in a living patient weighed 100 pounds.