WASHINGTON – A cutting edge medical treatment that was used successfully on the world’s tallest living man should be finding its way into more medical centers.
A 29-year-old man who stands 8-feet-3-inches tall has finally stopped growing thanks to an August 2010 treatment at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville. Sultan Kosen of Turkey was treated with what’s called the gamma knife.
“We were able to bombard it with high energy radiation that would inactivate the tumor cells,” says University of Virginia Dr. Jason Sheehan, who is a brain surgeon.
Sheehan performed the non-invasive procedure which delivered focused radiation to a tumor in Kosen’s pituitary gland at the base of his brain. The tumor was causing an explosion of growth hormones.
“It’s clear that the gamma knife has a huge role in the treatment of patients with difficult brain tumors and pituitary disorders,” he says.
Sheehan is confident that with the success of Kosen and others that it will be used with increasing frequency.
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WTOP’s Kathy Stewart contributed to this story. Follow WTOP on Twitter.
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