A US doctor started removing a 90-kilogram tumour from a man's leg Thursday, dpa quoted medical staff and his family as saying. Plastic surgeon McKay McKinnon and six Vietnamese doctors started the operation to remove Nguyen Duy Hai's tumor Thursday morning at FV Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, according to Hai's brother Nguyen Duy Sang. The metre-wide tumour has been growing on the 32-year-old man's right leg for more than 30 years despite an amputation at the knee 14 years ago. It has grown 10 centimetres in diameter over the past month and from 80 to more than 90 kilograms, doctors said. "I do not know when the operation will finish, but doctors say it will take at least 10 hours," Sang said. Dr Gerard Desvignes, the hospital's medical director, who was monitoring the operation, said the surgery was risky. He put the chance of success at 50 per cent. The growth has twisted Hai's spine and pelvis and caused problems with his breathing and blood circulation. McKinnon has conducted several operations to remove large tumours, which have received widespread media coverage in recent years. The US television channel MorningStar Entertainment was broadcasting the surgery live.
