Doctors at Gia Dinh People's Hospital successfully performed surgery, cutting nearly 3m of intestines for a rare case.

Four surgical teams from Gia Dinh People's Hospital performed surgery on this rare case for 12 hours, and cut nearly 3 meters of the patient's small intestine.

Doctors at Gia Dinh Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City were happy to save the life of a patient with a rare disease, requiring the removal of nearly 3m of the colon - Photo: Provided by the hospital

On the afternoon of January 14, Gia Dinh People's Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City informed about this very rare case, which required the removal of nearly 3m of the small intestine. That case is Mr. QPT, 38 years old, living in Ca Mau province.

Mr. T. suffered from severe gastrointestinal bleeding due to portal hypertension, intestinal arteriovenous malformation, cavernous sinus transformation, and chronic portal vein thrombosis. The hospital's gastroenterologists, vascular surgeons, and endovascular intervention specialists worked together to perform a 12-hour surgery to save the patient's life.

On the morning of December 14, 2024, when he arrived in Ho Chi Minh City for work, Mr. T. had severe abdominal pain around the navel, passed a lot of red blood in his stool, and felt dizzy and about to faint. He was taken to the emergency room at Gia Dinh People's Hospital in a state of severe anemia, low blood pressure, and lethargy.

Mr. T. was immediately resuscitated for hemorrhagic shock and was quickly given imaging procedures to diagnose the cause of gastrointestinal bleeding. The abdominal CT scan revealed that he had chronic portal vein obstruction and cavernous sinus transformation (large dilated vascular system remodeling due to chronic obstruction) in the liver hilum. The main cause of bleeding was diffuse intestinal arteriovenous malformation and communication, causing dilation of the mesenteric venous branches.

After receiving an injection of a drug to reduce portal vein pressure combined with a lower gastrointestinal endoscopy to stop the bleeding on site, Mr. T's blood pressure gradually stabilized. However, the gastrointestinal bleeding recurred less than 48 hours later, and the blood pressure dropped again despite active blood transfusion to stabilize hemoglobin and correct coagulation disorders.

Recognizing that this is a very rare disease, only reported in medical literature worldwide with a few clinical cases, the hospital's board of directors approved the expert council and decided to operate on the patient with comprehensive coordination between surgical and endovascular intervention specialists.

The open abdominal surgery combined with intraoperative endovascular intervention was performed continuously with 4 surgical teams from 3 different specialties, lasting from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the same day.

BSCK2 Vu Ngoc Son, deputy head of the hospital's digestive surgery department, said that in his more than 30 years of working in the medical field, this was the first time Dr. Son had treated such a rare case. The surgery lasted more than 12 hours, requiring the surgical team to work with a high level of concentration and intensity.

The patient had nearly 3m of small intestine removed so will have a special diet.

According to Dr. Vu Ngoc Son, a person has 5-6m of small intestine. This patient had to have about half of his small intestine removed, so he will need a special diet in the future.

After 2 weeks of surgery, the patient was able to eat and drink, had almost normal digestive function, no more gastrointestinal bleeding, and was treated with stable anticoagulants.

Doctors assessed the surgery as successful beyond expectations, thanks to close coordination between specialties, a comprehensive pre-operative preparation plan, and a multidisciplinary postoperative care strategy.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bac-si-benh-vien-nhan-dan-gia-dinh-mo-thanh-cong-cat-gan-3m-ruot-cho-ca-benh-hiem-gap-20250114160814201.htm