Zhang Cheng, a Chinese man let a benign stomach tumour to grow for 12 years until it left him looking like he was heavily pregnant.

Zhang first became aware of the abdominal benign tumour in 2004. But unable to afford surgery to have it removed, he left it to grow and grow for more than a decade until it expanded to massive proportions.

When it eventually began to threaten his health, however, the 33-year-old was talked into borrowing a large sum of cash to pay for its removal.

Surgeons have now removed the massive tumour which he carried around for years. At its heaviest, the benign growth weighed a whopping 15 kilogrammes.

Incredible pictures of Zhang before his surgery show the massive growth causing his abdomen to swell up to a frightening size.

According to Doctor Dai Ruiwu, lead surgeon at the Military General Hospital in Chengdu, capital of China’s south-western Sichuan Province, the fleshy mass was putting too much pressure on Zhang’s internal organs and gastrointestinal tract.

An operation lasting six hours and carried out by experts from three clinical departments, saw the tumour removed.

But Doctor Dai said Zhang is not out of the woods yet.