The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Beijing

Chinese doctors operating on a woman with abdominal pain expected to find an inflamed appendix but discovered a football-sized 15-kg (33-lb) tumour instead, a Beijing daily reported on Thursday.

Surgeons at the capital's Chaoyang Dongba hospital spent 30 minutes removing the tumour from Xiao Wen's abdomen, the Beijing Times said. It measured 40 cm (16 in) by 30 cm (12 in) and is believed to have been benign.

"It's just unbelievable, who would have thought a stomach could have such a large tumour?" the 21-year-old's father said. One surgeon who operated on Xiao Wen said he had not seen such a large abdominal tumour in more than 20 years of medicine.