Identify a Medical Condition?

March 19, 2008 8:12 AM

I'm curious as to what medical condition causes something I saw a few weeks ago.

I went over to my neighbor to ask him to turn down his television, which was blasting a bit.

When he opened the door, I noticed from the bottom periphery of my vision that he had a skin-covered protrusion -- almost cylindrical in shape -- jutting out about 9-11 inches from his chest, and really rather large in diameter -- maybe 6-10 inches in diameter, at a guess. (I admittedly could be wrong about the shape or measurements, as I didn't wish to stare and thus didn't let my eyes fix on it for more than a moment. I don't think so, but I could be.)

His shirt was open (of course), and I believe I remember seeing a nasal canula delivering oxygen/air.

He never said a word, and I'm not sure if that was just his thing, or if it was medical in cause, given that the protrusion might well be near the lungs.

Having never seen such a thing before, nor ever having heard of something causing that, I find myself very curious as to what condition causes that, especially given that it appears he need not be hospitalized, if he is living at home. (For example, if it was, say, cancer, I'd expect him (with something that size) to be in the hospital.)

If it matters, the gentleman in question is a senior citizen.

Just to clarify, by asking this, I don't mean any disrespect towards the gentleman in question. I just find myself curious as to the nature of what might be causing his condition.

posted by WCityMike to health & fitness (11 comments total)

Pacemaker?
posted by Comrade_robot at 8:15 AM on March 19, 2008

Sounds like it could be a hernia.
posted by Static Vagabond at 8:17 AM on March 19, 2008

> Pacemaker?

Appreciate the answer, but much larger than that, and not located near the heart -- more towards the center of the chest, if memory serves.
posted by WCityMike at 8:18 AM on March 19, 2008

Sounds like a post-bypass hernia, where the chest muscles squeeze out through the incision from open heart surgery. Looks awful, but is usually painless.
posted by OlderThanTOS at 8:51 AM on March 19, 2008

not located near the heart -- more towards the center of the chest

The heart actually is pretty close to the center of the chest, so whatever it is might be heart-related. However, pacemakers tend to be implanted up closer to the shoulder. I think this is because they thread the wires from the pacemaker through a big vein in the upper chest and down into the heart, rather than directly into the heart itself.

Anyway, my (uneducated) guess would be that he had some kind of implantable device, because that sounds like an awfully big thing to be growing out of someone who is living comfortably at home. Perhaps you could google around for images of implanted medical devices? I just did a quick search and didn't come up with anything great, but perhaps you've got more time to spend hunting.
posted by vytae at 8:52 AM on March 19, 2008

I'm thinking that Static Vagabond has it right - my dad had a hernia, and pre-operative therapy, it was pretty obvious, even through clothing.
posted by pixelbaby at 8:52 AM on March 19, 2008

That would be a gigantic hernia. Sounds like some sort of neoplasm to me, though I'm much less than certain. Looking forward to following this thread.
posted by stuboo at 8:58 AM on March 19, 2008

I'm right now leaning towards it being a gigantic hernia. A little bit of Googling has yielded commentary that large/gigantic hernias are often around the size of an eggplant, and if memory serves, the protrusion was about that size.
posted by WCityMike at 9:04 AM on March 19, 2008

Definitely not a pacemaker. My dad has one and he's ridiculously skinny. It's closer to his shoulder and even though he has no body fat there to cover it, it's still only a small bump.
posted by thejanna at 10:06 AM on March 19, 2008

I don't think it's a hernia, more likely just divarification of the recti. It usually makes me think of an alien bulging out of the upper abdomen. It's sited between the bottom of the sternum and the tummy button, in the midline, and becomes more pronouced as you increase your abdominal pressure by straining.
posted by roofus at 2:48 PM on March 19, 2008

Yeah, likely diastasis recti or a ventral hernia. You mentioned a nasal cannula, so I'm thinking maybe a guy with emphysema, therefore likely skinny, so any ventral hernia would look like a heap of trouble, except it isn't, so he might not even know it's there, so to speak.
posted by docpops at 3:55 PM on March 20, 2008