News / International
Doctors halt World tallest man's growth
16 Mar 2012 at 04:38hrs | Views
The world's tallest man may have finally stopped growing at a towering 8ft 3ins (247.62cm or 2.5m) thanks to a pioneering new treatment.
Turkish farm labourer Sultan Kosen (29) suffers from the rare disorder acromegaly which causes his body to continually produce the growth hormone. Mr Kosen's
condition was thought to have been caused by a tumor in the pituitary gland which is located in bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain.
Doctors thought they had cured him in 2008 when they removed the tumour but he continued to grow at a rate of half an inch (1,27cm) a year.
But researchers at the University of Virginia Medical Centre, who have developed a new treatment after he visited in 2010, said he has finally stopped growing.
Mr Kosen's hands measure 27,4cm across and his feet are 34,8cm long â€" which are also world records.
The farmer, who wears size 28 shoes, is one of only 10 people ever to top 2,4m and the first in a decade.
The gentle giant grew normally until he was 10 but the tumour then caused him to develop the medical condition.
When other children were little more than 1,2m, he was already well over 1,8m.
"The kids used to tease me and I found that very difficult," he said on a trip to the UK in 2010.
"But now I am really proud of being tall."
Turkish farm labourer Sultan Kosen (29) suffers from the rare disorder acromegaly which causes his body to continually produce the growth hormone. Mr Kosen's
condition was thought to have been caused by a tumor in the pituitary gland which is located in bottom of the hypothalamus at the base of the brain.
Doctors thought they had cured him in 2008 when they removed the tumour but he continued to grow at a rate of half an inch (1,27cm) a year.
But researchers at the University of Virginia Medical Centre, who have developed a new treatment after he visited in 2010, said he has finally stopped growing.
The farmer, who wears size 28 shoes, is one of only 10 people ever to top 2,4m and the first in a decade.
The gentle giant grew normally until he was 10 but the tumour then caused him to develop the medical condition.
When other children were little more than 1,2m, he was already well over 1,8m.
"The kids used to tease me and I found that very difficult," he said on a trip to the UK in 2010.
"But now I am really proud of being tall."
Source - Daily Mail
