A 57-year-old Brazilian woman who complained of a rapidly expanding waistline was surprised to discover an unusual cause of her girth: an 88-pound (40-kilogram) mucus-filled ovarian tumor. She noticed her midsection grew over the course of a year, and apart from a heavy feeling in her belly and slightly faster breathing, she had few other symptoms, according to a report published March 4 in the Journal of Medical Case Reports.

Mucus-filled ovarian cysts, known as mucinous cystadenomas, are fairly common and most often affect women ages 30 to 50, said Dr. Jonathan Herman, an obstetric surgeon at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y., who was not involved in the case. Although some cysts are cancerous, most are benign; the majority are very small and disappear on their own. The main symptoms are bloating or heaviness and difficulty fitting into pants or skirts. Larger cysts can put pressure on the bladder, Herman said. Occasionally a cyst will grow until it meets resistance from the abdominal wall; "when you cut it open, mucus just comes pouring out," Herman told Live Science. A mucus-filled ovarian tumor caused a Brazilian woman’s waistline to rapidly expand. The 57-year-old, overweight, postmenopausal woman first contacted doctors in 2003 after noticing a rapidly growing waistline, slight shortness of breath, and a 52-inch (132 cm) waist. An ultrasound revealed a huge mucus-filled mass that had shoved her uterus to the side, compressed her abdominal organs, and extended up to her diaphragm.

During surgery the mass measured 16.5 × 15.7 × 11 inches (42 × 40 × 28 cm) and weighed about 88 lb (40 kg). It showed signs of early-stage cancer, so she underwent several rounds of chemotherapy and surgeons removed part of her fallopian tubes, her uterus, and lymph nodes. Ten years later the patient is doing well and has no symptoms.

“Because mucus is very heavy, they can grow to a large size,” said Dr. Jonathan Herman. He has seen similar cases, including a young woman whose ovarian cyst weighed between 20 and 25 lb (9–11 kg). “I had to roll it off the table; it was so heavy,” he said. Women may miss the symptoms of ovarian cysts because they assume they are just gaining weight. Connecticut surgeons recently removed a 132 lb (60 kg) mucinous ovarian tumor from a woman's abdomen. The benign tumor was removed during a five-hour surgery that involved more than 20 specialists at Danbury Hospital, according to Western Connecticut Health Network. A mucinous ovarian tumor is a type of epithelial ovarian tumor that grows from the cells covering the outside of the ovaries. Most tumors from these cells are noncancerous; when they are cancerous they can be very dangerous because they are often not diagnosed until the disease is advanced, the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition says. The woman went to her gynecologist after experiencing rapid weight gain — about 10 lb (4.5 kg) a week over a two-month period. A CT scan showed a large mass on her ovary. "I might expect to see a 25 lb (11 kg) ovarian tumor, but a 132 lb tumor is very rare," said Dr. Vaagn Andikyan, a gynecologic oncologist at Danbury Hospital. Andikyan noted that when he met the woman she was extremely malnourished because the tumor was pressing on her digestive tract, and she used a wheelchair because of its weight. The surgeons successfully removed the tumor and her left ovary in a single operation and also removed excess abdominal skin. She went home two weeks after surgery and is expected to make a full recovery, according to the statement.