BEIJING, June 5 (Xinhuanet) -- A Japnese man who got an operation to remove a "tumour" has good news.

    He does not have cancer -- his painful lump turned out to be a 25-year-old surgical towel, media reported on Thursday.

    The 49-yead-old man has been carrying the cloth since 1983, when surgeons at the Asahi General Hospital in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo left it in him after an operation to treat an ulcer.

    The former patient has no plans to sue the hospital, which is in talks with him over compensation or other measures.

    (Agencies)