Indian man lives with 2 heads for years, gets it removed after 15 years – know what caused it

Cancer is one of the scariest diagnoses for anyone – but imagine living with a tumour so big that it looks like a second skull.

As disturbing as this thought is, an unnamed Indian man had been living with the same for years. For 15 years, the patient looked like he had two heads and also struggling with severe neck pain and sleeping difficulty. The growth also caused him depression, anxiety and numbness in the hands which took a toll on his ability to walk. The mass, which measured 20cm by 15cm by 15cm.

The patient told doctors that he had first noticed a small lump on his head when he was 24. Over the years, the same grew in size and got big enough to be almost as big as his head. Jodhpur doctors diagnosed him with a mesenchymal tumour.

What is mesenchymal tumour?

A mesenchymal tumour refers to a growth which forms in the mesenchymal tissues which includes nerve cells, fibroblasts, muscle cells and blood vessel cells around the body. Most of them are benign but some can be cancerous and may lead to breathing problems and pain. Scientists continue to be unsure of the causes of the condition, but as per research, DNA mutations can form the tumour.

Surgery is also said to be an effective way to treat benign tumours, but doctors may even opt out of it if the same is not causing any discomfort. But in the case of the Indian patient, the tumour was so large that it started to damage the outer part of the skull and soon reached the inner bone as well.