The world’s tallest man stops growing

Professors at the University of Virginia’s Medical Center have stopped the world’s tallest man from growing, according to press statement released Monday by the University’s Health System.

University endocrinologist Mary Lee Vance and University neurosurgeon Jason Sheehan treated 8-foot-3 Turk Sultan Kosen in 2010. Kosen had previously been diagnosed with acromegaly, a disease in which the patient suffers excessive growth, caused by a pituitary tumor.

The tumor spiked the amount of growth hormone Kosen’s body produced, which led to his gigantism, according to the statement. Vance gave Kosen new medication designed to control the production of the growth hormone and to stop his growth in May 2010. The tumor, however, had spread into Kosen’s brain and he had to return to the Medical Center in August 2010, Vance said. Sheehan then performed radiosurgery on Kosen using a Gamma Knife, which Vance said is a “one-time focused radiation treatment,” which halts the spread of the tumor.

“The treatments that we provided at the University of Virginia have stopped the production of his excess growth hormone and stopped the growth of the tumor itself,” Sheehan said in the statement.

Kosen currently holds the 2012 Guinness World Record for tallest man.