By Alexandra Thompson Senior Health Reporter For Mailonline
Published: 13:49 GMT, 18 March 2019 | Updated: 13:52 GMT, 18 March 2019
View
comments
A 73-year-old woman was diagnosed with ovarian cancer after a bizarre red lump grew out of her belly button.
The woman - who has not been named - went to hospital when the 'umbilical nodule' became painful and grew to 2cm across over four months.
Scans later revealed she was also suffering from a 11x11cm tumour in her pelvis, which had spread to her belly button.
The red lump - known as a Sister Mary Joseph’s nodule - can occur with ovarian cancer but is 'relatively rare', doctors said.
The patient, from Spain, is said to have made a full recovery after undergoing chemotherapy and surgery to remove the mass.
A 73-year-old woman was diagnosed with ovarian cancer after a bizarre red lump grew out of her belly button (pictured). It became larger over four months and started to bleed
The unnamed patient underwent scans of her abdomen. The top arrow points to the red lump - known as a Sister Mary Joseph’s nodule - in her belly button. The lower arrows shows a 11x11cm tumour - which was 9.5cm deep - in her pelvis. She was later diagnosed with cancer
The woman went to A&E two days after the lump in her belly button started bleeding.
She was treated by Dr Javier Barambio, a general surgery and digestive system physician at the Hospital Universitario Fundacion Jimenez Diaz in Madrid.
Upon examination, the nodule was painful and firm to touch, doctors wrote in a case report in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Scans revealed the pelvic mass - which was 9.5cm deep - as well as fluid in her abdomen and cancerous cells in her peritoneum.
The
