Malignant tumors are an increasing problem in the world today. Cancer and heart attack are the top two causes of death around the globe. However there is another type of tumor that does not get all the attention it deserves. Benign tumors are non-cancerous but dangerous. One type of benign tumor is the giant cell tumor of the bone. Although they occur in only one person per million a year, their removal is costly and complicated. In rare cases the tumor can expand to the lungs making the condition life threatening.

For a Vietnamese man named Nguyen Duy Hai, the fight against the giant cell tumor of the bone ended successfully last Friday. He is now recovering in the intensive care unit of the Ho Chi Minh City’s FV Hospital. The tumor got its name from the way the cells look under a microscope where many giant cells are seen. These cells are formed by the fusion of several individual cells into a single, large, cell. Just how large had Nguyen Duy Hai’s tumor got? Well, it weighted at twice the man’s body weight, more specifically 180 pounds. Post-operation it was estimated that the tumor was in fact 200 pounds. It took 12 hours of surgery to remove the tumor in its entirety.

According to the chief executive officer of the FV Hospital, Dr. Jean-Marcel Guillon, the patient, age 31, suffers from a disorder called Von Recklinghausen's neurofibromatosis. This condition is the most common neurological disorder caused by a single gene. It is an automsomal dominant hereditary disorder in which patients develop multiple soft tumors and skin spots.

Dr. Guillon said that there is always the possibility that the tumor will return but it will most likely be operable. He also stated that the medics at the hospital will never let the tumor reach the size it did before.

Having a tumor of that size affects all aspects of the patient’s life. Hai’s cardiac and pulmonary functions were affected but are expected to return to normal. Also, the patients was pretty much staying in bed all day as he had lost the use of his leg and the tumor grew to heavy to carry. Part of the patient’s rehabilitation will include physical therapy and help from a psychologist.

A giant cell tumor of the bone does not grow to 180 pounds in a day. For Hai, the tumor was first discovered when he was four. He underwent a surgery five years ago to amputate his leg. But the tumor grew and no doctor agreed to operate on him again until last week. He is not wealthy so his family had always had problems coming up with the money for the surgery which is why he waited until 2007 for the first op.

There are many dangers when undergoing surgery to remove such an extensive tumor. First of all, the heart might go through shock as two thirds of the body’s weight are removed. Also, anesthesia for over 12 hours can cause the heart to become problematic. Not only this, but such a large tumor develops its own blood system with large arteries. Because of this, abundant bleeding can cause death during the surgery. To prevent this, blood had to be constantly pumped into Hai during the surgery.