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German doctors: 40-pound tumor removed from woman

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-25 11:22

BERLIN – A German doctor said Friday that surgeons have successfully removed a 40-pound (18 kilogram) malignant bone tumor from a Saudi Arabian woman.

Dr. Heinz Zurbruegg, a surgeon at the private Capital Health clinic in Berlin, said the 35-year-old had only a few weeks to live when she arrived in Germany for care in September.

But he said that after five operations by the surgeons, no traces remain of the bone tumor that once ballooned from her pelvis and represented a third of her body weight.

He said she is now well enough to return home and that if follow-up exams continue to show no sign of any tumor, the next steps will be to reconstruct the partially removed pelvis and give her an artificial hip.

The woman, who spoke on the condition that her identity not be disclosed, said she traveled to Germany after doctors in Riyadh said they would have to amputate her leg to remove the bone tumor.

She said the tumor had kept her bedridden for five years, but she now can walk with crutches. She also said her husband and three young daughters are delighted by the doctors' success.