Surgery May Help Giant Achieve NBA Dreams

Nov. 28, 2006 — -- Facing 7-foot-9-inch Sun Ming Ming on the basketball court would be a humbling experience indeed. In fact, the 23-year-old from China would be the tallest basketball player ever to stride across an NBA court -- if he could make it there.

Ironically, the challenge facing Sun is the same non-cancerous tumor that is responsible for his imposing height. The growth, which presses against the pituitary gland in the middle of Sun's brain, caused the gland to release high levels of growth hormone during his development -- a condition known as acromegaly.

The hormone made him tall, but it also robbed him of the testosterone needed to develop the stamina, speed and strength necessary for a pro basketball career.

A new surgery could change that, allowing Sun to become quicker and stronger -- paving the way to his NBA dream.

The procedure, called Gamma Knife stereotactic radiosurgery, uses beams of radiation instead of a scalpel. The surgery will take place on Thursday at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.

"Gamma Knife radiosurgery works by very precisely delivering gamma rays to a tumor," says Dr. Stephen Tatter, co-director of the Gamma Knife Center at Wake Forest and part of the surgical team that will break up Sun's tumor.

Two hundred and one of these gamma rays will be aimed at Sun's head. They will pass harmlessly though his skull and brain until they meet at the tumor. When they intersect, the combined energy will zap the tumor, helping to eliminate it and restore Sun to hormonal normalcy.

The operation is expected to be an outpatient procedure, so Ming will be treated and released following the surgery

Though the procedure will eliminate the tumor responsible for Sun's towering stature, it will take time for his hormone levels to achieve normal levels.

"On average it takes over a year for growth hormone levels to normalize after Gamma Knife treatment alone," Tatter says. "Fortunately, there is a new drug, Somavert (from Pfizer), that blocks the effects of growth hormone."