Ho Chi Minh City: A 9-year-old boy with seizures and drug-resistant epilepsy had his first successful brain hemisphere surgery performed by doctors at Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital.
The child had convulsions in his hands and face, which progressed to hemiplegia, and had to drop out of school at the age of 8. The number of seizures increased, and doctors in many places diagnosed epilepsy and prescribed medication and other treatments, but there was no improvement. The seizures continued day and night, forcing the child to stay in bed, suffering from infections due to prolonged hospitalization, and malnutrition.
On January 1, Dr. Nguyen Hue Duc, Department of Neurosurgery, Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital, said that the child had drug-resistant epilepsy and did not respond to medical treatment. Experts from many specialties consulted and determined that the child had a progressive inflammatory condition affecting the right hemisphere, requiring surgery to remove this part.
"The baby has serious accompanying illnesses such as pneumonia, urinary tract infection, adrenal insufficiency, severe malnutrition, the team must be ready for any possible incidents," said the doctor.
The patient was closely monitored for post-operative risks and had his medication adjusted accordingly. The child gradually recovered and stabilized, no longer having seizures. He was discharged from the hospital in good health and returned to normal life after a long period of fighting non-stop seizures. The tissue sample determined that the child had Rasmussen's encephalitis - one of the causes of drug-resistant epilepsy.
Doctor of Neurosurgery Department, Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital, performs surgery on a patient. Photo: Provided by the hospital
Dr. Pham Anh Tuan, Head of the Department of Neurosurgery, said that this was the first time a hemisection surgery to treat epilepsy was performed entirely by a Vietnamese epilepsy team. This came from the accumulated experience of more than 10 years of study and work of the hospital's doctors.
Epilepsy is a chronic, serious neurological disease that is usually initially treated with anti-epileptic drugs. However, about 1/3 of epileptic patients continue to be resistant to the drugs. The disease affects the patient's quality of life and is a burden to their family and society. Sometimes, the disease is mistaken for a mental illness, leading to people's alienation.
Dr. Tuan assessed that this success opens up many opportunities for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. The hospital continues to update new treatment methods with the support of leading experts in the world, in order to bring optimal and safe treatment quality to epilepsy patients in Vietnam.
Epilepsy is a common disease in countries around the world. In Vietnam, the rate of epilepsy in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City is about 5.5%. The World Anti-Epileptic Organization recommends that patients with drug-resistant epilepsy should be evaluated for epilepsy surgery, in order to achieve seizure freedom by removing the epileptogenic area, while preserving the functional cortex.
Le Phuong
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