CASE REPORT article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Surgical Oncology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsurg.2025.1639098
An abdominal giant lipoma that was surgically resected: case report
Provisionally accepted- 1The First Affiliated Hospital of Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou, China
- 2Hebei North University School of Graduate Studies, Zhangjiakou, China
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Background: Giant retroperitoneal lipomas are rare benign tumors that frequently present with nonspecific symptoms, leading to delayed diagnosis. This case highlights the importance of multidisciplinary evaluation and surgical management in treating large retroperitoneal masses. Patient presentation: A 42-year-old woman presented with right lower abdominal distension and occasional nausea. Computed tomographic (CT) imaging revealed a massive retroperitoneal fat-containing lesion (22 cm × 9.8 cm × 31 cm) compressing adjacent organs. Surgical resection via a transrectus approach removed a 4.86-kg encapsulated lipoma. Postoperative recovery was uncomplicated, and pathology confirmed a benign lipoma. Conclusions: Complete surgical excision remains the treatment of choice for giant retroperitoneal lipomas. Early imaging (CT/magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]) and differentiation from malignancies are critical. This case, representing one of the heaviest reported retroperitoneal lipomas (4.86 kg), demonstrates that curative resection is feasible for massive symptomatic masses, and contributes technical and outcome data to the limited literature on giant abdominal lipomas. It underscores the importance of long-term follow-up to monitor recurrence.
Keywords: Lipoma, case report, Benign tumor, abdominal mass, Surgical excision
Received: 01 Jun 2025; Accepted: 20 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fan, Yang, Cao and Wu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xueliang Wu, fanjianchun96@163.com
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