woman with a breast on her back...

A woman had a breast-sized tumour removed from her back which had been growing for more than a decade.

The 46-year-old arrived at a clinic in Dublin with a huge growth on the right-hand side of her back.

Doctors recording the case in the journal BMJ case reports said they examined the 'impressive' mass and found it was firm to the touch, rather than tender.

A woman had a 19cm tumour removed from her back which had been growing for more than a decade

The tumour was found to be a lipoma, a non-cancerous growth made up of fat cells. She is now on the waiting list to have the 'impressive' mass removed, doctors said

The woman said it had been growing for 10 years, but had starting growing rapidly in the last three. 

Upon measuring the tumour, doctors found it was 19cm in length and 6.7cm wide.

Suspecting it may be a soft tissue cancer known as a sarcoma, doctors immediately carried out an MRI scan.

They found the growth was a benign tumour made up of fat cells, known as a lipoma.

Co-author of the report, Dr Tunde Abdulsalam, who practices in Dublin, told MailOnline this was one of the biggest lipomas he had ever seen.

He said: ‘It is unusual to let it grow that big. Most patients would have it removed sooner for cosmetic reasons.