A man called Sakthivel living in a small town, Dindigul in southern India was carrying a 5 kg tumour for 20 years. He let his heavy tumour grow because he was scared of surgery owing to a past experience wherein his brother died during a surgery. Surgeons believe that it is the "world's largest brain tumour." Another reason for him avoiding to opt for surgery is the cost of it, the medical bills would have been beyond his affordability and therefore he chose not to get medical advice. "The heaviest brain tumour in the world" was removed after a 10-hour long surgery done on him at the Government Rajaji Hospital in Madurai in the south of India. The huge tumour had to be sliced off to be removed from his body, as per reports by DM. He had his tumour placed at the back of his head and the reports further suggest that his tumour was cancerous. His tumour was almost the same size as his head and it almost looked like he had two conjoined heads.

Dr J Srisaravanan, the neurosurgeon who treated Sakthivel's quote as per reported by DM was "The patient came to our hospital in the second week of May with a huge growth on his head and restrictions of neck movement. He has [had] the tumour for around 20 years, but as his brother had died due to some other surgery he feared to undergo surgery to remove the tumour,"

How To Detect If Your Tumour May Cause Cancer?

Tumours can be of two types- Benign and cancerous. If you have a tumour or a lump in your body the first thing your doctor will do is get it checked if it is cancerous. Usually, cancerous tumours grow rapidly and benign ones may take time to grow. However, sometimes even the cancerous ones may grow slowly and the non-cancerous ones may grow quickly. The major difference is that the two types are clear and consistent.

Here are the main features of malignant(cancerous) and benign(non-cancerous):

Benign Tumors

  • Cells do not spread, even if they do the growth is next to nothing.

  • Benign tumours do not spread to other parts of the body (metastasise)

  • Such tumours so not invade nearby tissue.

  • They are clearer in shape and usually have defined boundaries.

  • Once checked by the pathologist, the shape, chromosomes, and DNA of cells appear normal

  • May not require treatment

  • Do not usually secrete any kind of substances

  • Usually, don't recur and may not require further treatment.

Malignant Tumors

  • Cells spread usually rapidly.

  • Can spread via the bloodstream.

  • The tumour may have an unusual shape and have substance secreting from the tumour.

  • You may witness fatigue and weight loss, also known as a paraneoplastic syndrome because of the secretion.

  • Tumours usually invade the membrane that surrounds nearby healthy tissue

  • May recur after removal.

  • Aggressive treatment may require, for example, radiation, chemotherapy etc.

Different treatment options for benign vs malignant tumours:

Tumours may initially be difficult to detect because the lump may be small. However, it is always advisable that you immediately get yourself tested when you find any kind of lump on your body.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 24, 2019 09:07 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).