Giant tumor the size of a watermelon in two months

The 6.5-kilogram giant tumor that shifted the heart of 21-year-old Burak Aktaş, who lives in Istanbul, to the right by 12 centimeters surprised even his doctors.

Burak Aktaş (21), who lives in Istanbul, went to the hospital last July to get a medical report to get a job. Everything was fine and he got his report and got back to work.

Less than a month later, he was shocked when he went to another hospital with complaints such as shortness of breath, weakness and cough.

An orange-sized mass was detected in the left chest cavity.

In the biopsy, it was diagnosed that the tumor did not originate from the lung, but was an immature teratoma that developed with the differentiation of germ cells in the fetal stage.

Although chemotherapy was applied to shrink the mass, on the contrary, the tumor grew almost 10 times in size within two months and reached the size of a large watermelon.

SHIFT HIS HEART 12 CINTS TO THE RIGHT

The giant tumor weighing 6.5 kilos, which crushed eighty percent of his left lung like paper, shifted his heart to the right by 12 centimeters on the chest wall, and put pressure on the main vessels leading to both the heart and the brain, was successfully removed thanks to the Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery teams of Koşuyolu Yüksek İhtisas Training and Research Hospital.

During the operation, Aktaş’s heart was pulled to its normal place, the upper lobe of the left lung was removed, and the crushed lower lobe was re-inflated with positive pressure by the anesthesia team.

Prof. from the team that performed the surgery. Dr. Erdal Taşçı noted that the tumor, which covered almost the entirety of Aktaş’s chest cavity, was one of the types of teratoma (monster tumor in ancient Greek) and originated from embryonic cells.

Father Sadi Aktaş stated that they were shocked when they learned about his son’s illness and said, “We were very surprised to hear that the tumor was so big. “He could not lie on his back for three months, he could breathe easy and sleep comfortably after the surgery,” he said.

Burak Aktaş said: “Before the surgery, I could neither lie down nor sleep. Thanks to my teacher Erdal, my life is now in order.” (DHA)