Man suffering hiccups diagnosed with a large tumor in the back of his neck

February 11, 2016  11:42

A man who endured a case of the hiccups that lasted five days, discovered the cause of his persistent attacks was a tumor in his neck.  

Over the course of a month, the 35-year-old visited a New York hospital twice for evaluation, only to be given medication and discharged.

But the hiccups refused to relent, so he returned to the hospital for a third time – and was told the hiccups were caused by a large tumor in his neck.

Called a haemangioblastoma, the benign tumor was pressing against the nerve roots in his spine – and could eventually paralyze him.

Dr Mark Goldin, an internist at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, who treated the patient, told Daily Mail Online: ‘My initial reaction was we need to get this taken out immediately.’

Hiccups generally aren’t serious, Dr Goldin said.

But if they occur for more than 48 hours, a person should start to worry, he cautioned.

Dr Goldin said: ‘Greater than 48 hours is when someone should really seek medical attention because there’s clearly something underlying the hiccups at that point.’

In the instance of the 35-year-old patient, seeking medical attention may have saved him from becoming paralyzed, according to Dr Goldin.

The doctor outlined the patient’s case in the journal BMJ Case Reports.

The 35-year-old had five days of persistent hiccups and vomiting.

The patient had been treated twice in the past month for hiccups, given doses of the drug chlorpromazine each time.

However, the medication offered him no relief.

Dr Goldin told Daily Mail Online that during the patient's third hospital visit, doctors in the emergency room began to suspect something was wrong.

They called in Dr Goldin, who noticed that the patient was exhibiting neurological symptoms, as well.

The patient began to experience numbness and tingling in his left arm, in addition to weakness in his legs, balance issues and trouble swallowing.

The patient was given an MRI – and a tumor was spotted immediately on his neck.

Dr Goldin said: ‘It was in the cervical spine, compressing what they call the nerve roots throughout the cervical spine.’

It was ‘pretty obvious’ to Dr Goldin’s team that the man was suffering from haemangioblastoma.

But though the tumor was benign, if it continued to grow, it could lead to severe health issues.

The patient had been admitted right at the time of a major holiday, so getting him to the operating table took quite a bit of coordination.

He had to be transferred to a companion hospital, and Dr Goldin had to make arrangements with a neurosurgeon and radiologists to ensure the patient was able to be operated on immediately.

Following the procedure, the patient’s tumor was gone.

And after a three-month follow-up, an MRI showed no recurrence of the tumor, according to the case report.

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