Surgeons remove head-sized tumour from boy's neck

Singapore surgeons have removed a tumour the size of a human head growing on the neck and over the chest of a grossly underweight Indonesian boy, following a 10-hour operation, hospital chiefs said today.

Lukas Wahangara, 12, underwent surgery late last month to remove a 4.41lb thyroid growth at the Mount Elizabeth Hospital.

The tumour measured 7.87 inches in diameter and made up around 10% of his total body weight of just under three stone, said Dr Goh Yau Hong, one of the doctors involved in the surgery.

The growth started out the size of a quail’s egg. It kept growing gradually, and caused breathing and walking difficulties, Dr. Goh said.

“If it continues growing for another 11 years, I could not imagine what could happen.”

Wahangara had been spotted outside a local hospital on the eastern Indonesian island of Sumba in May by Dr Goh, who was on a charity mission.

Following surgery, he now breathes with the help of a tube, which will be removed once his windpipe hardens in a few months.

Wahangara’s growth was a result of an iodine deficiency in the Sumba diet and was “an endemic problem”, the hospital statement said.

The operation costs around 20,000 Singapore dollars (€9,600), the Straits Times newspaper said. The cost of the operation is funded by a charity organisation.

Wahangara returns to Indonesia on December 23.