Surgeon removes biggest tumour he has seen on his operating table

A Queensland man has had a massive tumour removed from his liver, with his surgeon saying it was the biggest he has seen. CONFRONTING IMAGE

Barrie Tibbetts shows his scar. Picture: Richard Walker

A Redlands man has had a massive tumour removed from his liver, with his surgeon saying it was the biggest he has seen.

Barrie Tibbetts, a Birkdale father of three, was unaware he had a 15cm hepatocellular carcinoma tumour that weighed 2kg until a routine test.

WARNING: CONFRONTING IMAGE

Mater Private Hospital surgeon Joel Lewin said that type of tumour affected about five in 100,000 people, but rates had increased in recent years.

The doctor said Mr Tibbetts would have died from the aggressively growing tumour without urgent surgery.

“It is hard to know how long that would take but it was likely growing quite quickly, likely months,” he said.

“Surgery was required as quickly as possible.”

Mr Tibbetts, 67, was unaware the mass had been growing in his liver until he saw his doctor for a routine check-up.

The liver cancer was detected by Brisbane GP Kerrie ­Hulett who had noticed Mr Tibbetts’ liver function test ­results were slightly abnormal.

“Barrie had no symptoms whatsoever,” Dr Lewin said.

“Given Mr Tibbetts had a liver condition many years ago, Dr Hulett was very thorough and arranged an ultrasound which showed the mass.”

The massive tumour (left) as seen in an X-ray

The delicate operation took almost six hours.

As part of the surgery, a large incision was made in Mr Tibbetts’ abdomen due to the size and complexity of the procedure.

“The tumour occupied the majority of the right side of the liver, making surgical resection challenging,” Dr Lewin said.

He said Mr Tibbetts’ case required an open approach due to the size of the tumour.

The 2kg tumour after it was removed

Mr Tibbetts said he was shocked when his doctor revealed he had an aggressive cancer growing in his liver.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Mr Tibbetts said.

“I had more scans just before having surgery and the mass had become so large it was creeping up into my diaphragm.

“I’ve just had my three-monthly imaging done since having surgery and the outlook is looking very good.”

Mr Tibbetts is now looking forward to travelling around Australia with his wife Leslie in a new camper van.

“We thought this would be a nice way to celebrate,” he said.

Originally published as Surgeon removes biggest tumour he has seen on his operating table