Tumor in baby is the size of a fist

Shanghai Daily

A HUGE tumor has been removed from the head of a seven-month-old boy by doctors at Shanghai's Xinhua Hospital.

The baby, Xiao Xin, is in a stable condition after surgery and a scan after the operation has confirmed the growth had been completely cut out, said chief surgeon Ma Jie.

"The tumor, which was eight-centimeter long, seven-centimeter wide and five-centimeter high, was very rare," Ma said. "It resembled a fetus and contained such tissue as hair and bones."

Xiao Xin's parents started to notice the growth when the boy was three months old.

"His head was much bigger than that of kids of the same age. We did not pay much attention, thinking it must be a sign that his intelligence developed better," the parents told the hospital.

However, their view changed when, over the next few months, their baby's head became even bigger than his three-year-old brother's.

When the boy was taken to a hospital in his hometown, doctors diagnosed a tumor and the parents rushed the baby to Xinhua Hospital.

"We were surprised to see from the CT scan that the tumor was as big as a fist and situated in the middle of the brain. It took up half of the skull and was close to some important tissues such as the brainstem and skull artery," Ma said.

Under the leadership of Dr Ma, a special surgical team carried out the operation using minimally invasive surgical techniques.