• Question: how much could a cancer tumour weigh?

    Asked by issiphee1 to Gioia, Iain, Jo, Leo, Mariam on 16 Jun 2010 in Categories: .
    • Photo: Joanna Watson

      Joanna Watson answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      I saw somewhere that a woman had a 300lb tumour removed – that’s 136kg. I don’t know if it’s true though, because that sounds crazy!

    • Photo: Iain Moal

      Iain Moal answered on 15 Jun 2010:

      Tumours can be anything from a few millimeters wide upwards. The largest tumour I’ve ever been aware of weighed more than me (over 100kg) and was more than twice as large as the woman it grew on. The only reason it could get that big is because it grew out of her. Normally a tumour would stop some vital process before it ever gets anywhere near that size.

    • Photo: Leo Garcia

      Leo Garcia answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the biggest tumour ever removed was 138 kg:

      http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/01/21/health.romania.tumor.reut/

      And the woman made a full recovery! Some cancers can divide (given the right conditions) forever – so, in theory, some cancers could grow as large as you would possibly want them to. Not that that would be a nice thing to do, though.

    • Photo: Mariam Orme

      Mariam Orme answered on 16 Jun 2010:

      Hmm, I don’t really know the answer to that. Some tumours could be tiny, so small you can’t even see them. But others can be huge. I read somewhere that fibroids (which are benign, or non-cancerous, tumours) can weigh as much as 50kg! I’m not sure if that can be true, that’s almost my body weight!

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