World's Tallest Man Stops Growing

                                                                      Image Credit: Mustafa Ozer/AFP/Getty Images

The World's Tallest Man has stopped growing, thanks to researchers at University of Virginia Medical Center.

At 8-feet-3-inches, Sultan Kosen, 29, of Turkey measures in as the Guinness Book of World Records' tallest man. He suffers from acromegaly, a chronic metabolic disorder that causes too much growth hormone to be produced. The condition can lead to gigantism and is usually caused by a tumor in the pituitary gland, an endocrine gland that secretes hormones.

"His skeleton just can't support him," Dr. Mary Lee Vance, an endocrinologist at University of Virginia Medical Center, said in a statement.

Vance placed him on a medication that helps control the production of growth hormones. Later in 2010, Kosen underwent Gamma Knife radiosurgery, a noninvasive procedure that sent beams of radiation, guided by an MRI, into Kosen's pituitary tumor.

Turkish doctors confirmed three months ago that Kosen did indeed stopped growing.

"Treating someone 8 feet 3 inches tall is no different from treating someone 5 feet 10 inches tall," Vance said. "The important thing is to stop the production of the excess growth hormone."