Shocking images shows how a 40-year-old Italian woman’s left breast grew to three to four times her natural size after a suspected reaction to a fertility treatments.
The unnamed patient, described as a housewife, developed a condition called unilateral gigantomastia, where only one breast grows abnormally large.
Medics reporting the case said it was ‘one of the most extreme’ of its kind they’d seen and the exact cause of the woman’s ballooning breast was unknown.
However, they added the hormone treatment the woman was taking to help her conceive was the most likely culprit.
The report, published in the International Journal of Surgery Case Reports, detailed how the breast grew gradually over the three years following the woman’s pregnancy.
She reported suffering severe back pain, difficulty walking, as well as psychological distress as a result of the massive unbalanced growth.
Doctors investigating her case first carried out tests to rule out breast cancer, which came back negative.
However, theses tests did reveal that her left breast had diffuse ductal hyperplasia, a condition where cells in the breast milk ducts grow at an abnormal rate.
Shocking images shows how 40-year-old Italian woman’s left breast grew to a ginormous size after a suspected reaction to a fertility treatments
The unnamed woman, believed to be from Campania in southern Italy, eventually underwent breast reduction surgery to alleviate her symptoms. Here she is pictured a year after the surgery
While not cancerous itself, data suggests women who suffer the condition are at higher risk of developing breast cancer in the future.
The woman, believed to be from Campania in southern Italy, eventually underwent breast reduction surgery to alleviate her symptoms.
Surgeons successfully removed 7lbs (3.45kg) of breast tissue on the left breast to provide her a balanced chest.
A year later, the patient reported being highly satisfied with the results of her operation — both in terms of symptom reduction and aesthetics.
The surgeons described it as ‘one of the most extreme instances of gigantomastia encountered in our surgical experience’.
Gigantomastia, medically defined as breast tissue weighing more than 2.5kg (5.5lbs), is rare, with only some 300 hundreds of cases reported in medical literature.
Researchers are still exploring what causes gigantomastia, both in one breast or both to develop, though an imbalance of hormones, a reaction to medications, autoimmune conditions and genetics are believed to be some factors.
