World's Tallest Man - Sultan Kosen - Treated at UVA

Having had pituitary surgery myself, I was naturally interested in the story of the world's tallest man, Sultan Kosen, and all the more so, since we were both operated on in the same state and at the same institution, the University of Virginia. Turkish Sultan Kosen has attained the height of 8 feet 2 inches, and although my surgery was for a prolactinoma, my pituitary produces an excess of the hormone that produces acromegaly, and thus I am an acromegalic. In the case of Kosen, the surgery he underwent may save his life. It will take months, and perhaps years, to determine whether his condition is effectively cured.

Effect of Age at Onset

The difference is that younger persons who go undiagnosed attain extreme heights, whereas an older person who develops a tumor producing an excess of hormone does not reach such heights, but grows in other respects. The hands and feet and certain facial features of older sufferers may increase disproportionately in size.

In the Case of Sultan Kosen

Sultan Kosen walks with two canes, which protects his joints, stressed by his increased size and weight. The size of his shoes testifies to that stress. The Turk wears a size 28 shoe. Dr. Mary Lee Vance (whom I have met and talked with) reports that persons suffering from acromegaly "can develop heart failure...diabetes, high blood pressure, colon polyps,

"Meet" Sultan Kosen

This gentle giant may be seen in this video. At time of filming, he was 8 feet 1 inch, and still growing.

Other Famous Acromegalics

Other famous acromegaly sufferers include former movie actor Rondo Hatton (played the Oxton Creeper in the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes movie The Pearl of Death (1944), living actor Richard Kiel (played Jaws in the James Bond movies The Spy who Loved Me and Moonraker, TV-wrestler Andre the Giant, and former California governor Pio de Jesus Pico (whose condition later, curiously, reversed itself).

References:

NBC29 - World's Tallest Man Recovering at UVA Medical

Pio Pico State Historic Park

Personal Experience