A seven-year-old girl was discharged from the Shanghai Children's Medical Center yesterday morning after a 1.9-kilogram tumor was removed from her stomach on July 9.

The tumor was so large that it made up more than 10 percent of her body weight. It had compressed her spine, and pushed a kidney and major blood vessels aside. If not treated, she would likely not have survived beyond age 10 due to severely compressed organs, hospital officials said.

Tie Ping, a Gansu Province native, got a swollen belly a year ago. Doctors detected a tumor measuring 15 centimeters in diameter in her stomach with ultrasound. Gansu hospitals were unable to treat her.

Her parents took Tie to the Shanghai Children's Medical Center early this month. Doctors here confirmed Tie had ganglioneuroma, a tumor of the peripheral nervous system. It is the most common tumor among children.

"The girl's tumor was rare in terms of its size," said Dr Xu Min, director of the center's pediatric surgery department.

Doctors said Tie is underweight as the tumor had consumed a lot of her energy and nutrients. The operation was considered somewhat risky because it could have resulted in a large wound, serious bleeding and after-surgery infection. The four-hour operation was completed successfully last Thursday.

Such a tumor is congenital and usually goes undiagnosed until it starts growing quickly. It can grow in any part of the body, but is most common in the belly, along the spine or the neck. The best treatment is surgery to remove it.

"Parents should take their children to hospital quickly if they find a bulge along the spine or in the belly or neck," Xu said. "Most such tumors are benign, but the key is early detection and early removal."

(Shanghai Daily July 17, 2009)