Could this be the World's Heaviest Fibroid? 

On a recent episode of the Dr. Oz show, he tackled a BIG problem: giant fibroids! Fibroids are non-cancerous growths that develop in a woman's uterus. Usually, we diagnose and treat them before they get very big. But every so often, that's not the case. So, keeping in mind that are tales of exception,  check out these big fibroid stories.

A 53-year-old woman in Singapore needed surgery to remove her 61 pound fibroid. The woman avoided treatment for so long that she could no longer get out of bed! She was also having difficulty breathing.

When the patient finally arrived at KK Women's and Children's Hospital, doctors determined her growth was a fibroid. Unfortunately, because of it's size, the woman needed a hysterectomy to find relief.

According to Dr. Poh Ting Lim, a member of the team that treated the patient, the removed tumor was 26 inches across at its widest point. Because of its size being larger than 25 pounds, the tumor was classified as "giant"--the largest fibroid tumor ever recorded was found in the late 1800s, and weighed 100 pounds! In addition to performing a hysterectomy, doctors had to surgically reconstruct the woman's abdominal wall. It had stretched and thinned to a dangerous point in order to accommodate the giant growth in her uterus.

Child-Sized Fibroid Causes Problem

At a hospital in Delhi, India, a 47-year-old woman had a nearly-nine pound fibroid removed from her cervix! The fibroid was basically the size of a full-term newborn!

According to reports, the woman came to the hospital in 2009 because of abdominal pain and heavy periods. An ultrasound report at the time revealed that she had a small fibroid located inside her uterus.  Unfortunately,she was sent home with a diagnosis and no treatment plan.

Several years later, the woman came back to the hospital, in even worse pain. Now, the fibroid was an astounding 9 pounds, taking up all the space from her pelvis until four inches below her breastbone. It was also beginning to adjoin to her liver.

It took doctors almost three hours to remove the giant fibroid. During the surgery, both the fibroid and the woman’s uterus were removed, due to the suspicious nature of the tumor and fears of cancer.

Although the procedure was technically a success, and the woman was released from hospital six days after her operation, our team of fibroid specialists still views this story as having an unhappy ending.

How Fibroids Grow

Of course, for most women, giant fibroids are just horror stories. Fibroids are common but slow-growing, typically expanding by about nine percent every six months. An nine percent size increase could dramatically increase your symptoms, but the relatively slow growth period means you have time to seek treatment before you would need a hysterectomy. With minimally invasive treatment options available, situations like these are completely avoidable--you simply need to reach out to a fibroid specialist as soon as you notice symptoms such as pain or heavy menstrual flow!

Consult your doctor to determine which size of fibroid is dangerous.

Sources: Dr. Oz Show