Doctors call 32-year-old's heart tumor the largest in recorded history
A 32-year-old diagnosed with a heart tumor the size of a tennis ball has had the growth removed after years of untreated chest pain, according to CBS New York.
According to CBS, physicians say Jake Cohen’s cardiac tumor is the largest ever recorded. Heart tumors are extremely rare—to the tune of just seven cases in a 12,000-patient autopsy review—and are usually benign, but can intervene in healthy heart function if they grow too large.
“They told me it was probably nothing, and I would accept it,” Cohen told CBS of his condition, noting he’d visited doctors frequently with complaints of pain and discomfort while exercising. “I would go home, I would take some antacid medicine or something like that. But I really kind of felt something was off.”
Cohen said doctors often brushed off his symptoms since he was so young, but a stress test led to an MRI that revealed the growth. After removal, his doctors gave him a clean bill of health and he said he’s working to live a “really healthy life."
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After graduating from Indiana University-Bloomington with a bachelor’s in journalism, Anicka joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering cardiology. Close to her heart is long-form journalism, Pilot G-2 pens, dark chocolate and her dog Harper Lee.