CHICAGO — Dr. Pierre Johnson, an OB-GYN and surgeon at Loretto Hospital in Chicago, successfully removed a 27-pound fibroid tumor from a pregnant patient. The procedure preserved the patient's uterus and pregnancy.

Brionna Johnson of Chicago was 17 weeks pregnant when she presented with the 27-pound fibroid tumor on her uterus. Multiple physicians had advised her that removing the tumor would necessitate a hysterectomy. Brionna Johnson then traveled to the South Side of Chicago for a surgical consultation with Dr. Johnson, who practices at Loretto Hospital, which primarily provides medical care to low-income patients. Brionna Johnson and her fetus remained healthy after the surgical procedure.

Dr. Johnson stated he had previously removed a 20-pound fibroid while preserving a patient's uterus. He also indicated that he independently developed a surgical technique for excising large fibroids. Dr. Johnson said the fibroid was the most enormous he had ever seen. He noted that many people attempted to block the surgery due to perceived risks.

Dr. Johnson grew up on the South Side of Chicago. He obtained an undergraduate degree from Xavier University and his medical degree from the University of Illinois. He was the only Black student in his medical school class at the University of Illinois. Black physicians constitute less than 6 percent of the physician workforce in the United States. Dr. Johnson completed his medical residency in 2013 and practiced medicine in central Illinois for three years afterward. Brionna Johnson and Dr. Johnson are connected through a distant marriage. Dr. Johnson advised patients to inquire about surgeons' experience with fibroid cases, their complication history, and their myomectomy-to-hysterectomy conversion rates. He also published posts about the surgery on Instagram, where he maintains an account with approximately 126,000 followers.

No independent assessment of Dr. Pierre Johnson’s claims was available.