Medical news October 1: Donating corneas brings light to the blind
After receiving a cornea transplant, a 65-year-old female patient in Yen Bai regained her sight, ending more than 10 years of blindness.
74 year old woman donates cornea
This is the latest corneal transplant case on September 27, the donor is a 74-year-old woman in Hanoi, bringing light to 2 blind people.
 |
| Illustration |
On the afternoon of September 30, sharing about the corneal transplant that had just been performed at Hanoi Eye Hospital 2, Associate Professor, Dr. Hoang Minh Chau, Chairman of the Hospital's Professional Council, said that on September 25, Ms. LTHM (residing in Ha Dong, Hanoi) passed away. Her son, a doctor working at Military Hospital 103, called the Tissue Bank of Hanoi Eye Hospital 2 to donate his mother's cornea. Immediately, the Tissue Bank team quickly moved to the scene to collect the cornea.
Ms. M's cornea was successfully transplanted by Hanoi Eye Hospital 2 to a 65-year-old female patient (Van Chan, Yen Bai) on September 27. The remaining cornea was coordinated to Military Hospital 103 for transplantation to another patient.
Sharing more about the cornea collection and transplant process, Associate Professor, Dr. Hoang Minh Chau said that after receiving the donor's cornea, it will be preserved in a specialized solution to ensure sterilization and help nourish the cornea.
After reviewing the transplant waiting list, a 65-year-old woman in Yen Bai had suitable indicators and received a corneal transplant immediately afterwards.
The female patient suffered from corneal dystrophy. This is a highly hereditary disease. For more than 10 years, the patient has been unable to see people and objects around her. She always wished to have bright eyes to see her loved ones and return to normal life.
“Due to the scarcity of corneas, patients still have to wait in vain, and their daily activities are extremely difficult when they have to depend on others. A successful corneal transplant will open up a bright future for patients,” Associate Professor Chau said.
The corneal transplant took about 45 minutes, the patient's condition is currently stable, the results are quite positive as he can see and walk on his own. However, this is only the initial result, it is necessary to monitor regularly for a long time to come.
According to Associate Professor Chau, during the follow-up period, the corneal transplant recipient must strictly follow the doctor's instructions for follow-up visits, as well as advice on nutrition and lifestyle such as not doing heavy exercise, avoiding the impact of dusty environments, and eye impacts...
Associate Professor Chau added that the Tissue Bank (Hanoi Eye Hospital 2) was established in February 2024 and has performed corneal transplants for 42 cases, but this is the first case to receive corneas from within the country. The remaining corneas are taken (imported) from international tissue (corneal) banks.
In Vietnam, corneal transplantation has been performed since 2007. To date, more than 3,000 people have received corneal transplants, of which more than 50% are from community donors, mainly concentrated in Ninh Binh and Nam Dinh, with the highest number in 2020, with 169 people receiving transplants.
To date, more than 20 provinces and cities have had people donate corneas after death. However, the number of people who are blind due to corneal diseases is very large, about more than 30,000 people, but the number of transplants is very small. Among the patients waiting for corneal transplants, most are between the ages of 30-60, including children.
Corneas can only be collected after the donor has died. The best time to harvest a cornea is within 6-8 hours after the donor has died.
Donating corneas after death is a noble act, bringing life and light to many others.
Infection control improves the quality of medical examination and treatment
Infection control is one of the key factors in improving the quality of health services, protecting public health and ensuring the safety of patients and health workers.
In the context of many epidemics such as measles, dengue fever, hand, foot and mouth disease, whooping cough... are increasing in provinces and cities across the country, if any medical facility does not perform well in infection control, the epidemic will spread, and patients will face the risk of disease on top of disease.
Ventilator-associated pneumonia is one of the four most common infections today. In Vietnam, ventilator-associated pneumonia has the highest infection rate compared to other infections.
The rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia infection varies depending on the size of the hospital, but is estimated to be between 10-20%. Many studies have shown that the consequences of ventilator-associated pneumonia include increased length of hospital stay, increased antibiotic use and treatment costs, and increased risk of death for patients.
Associate Professor, Dr. Le Thi Anh Thu, President of the Vietnam Infection Control Association, cited that during the recent Covid-19 outbreak, there were patients who died not entirely from the SARS-CoV-2 virus but from ventilator-related pneumonia.
This infection causes secondary infections with other bacteria in the hospital, causing the patient to change from mild to severe condition. Therefore, in the context of the current measles epidemic in Ho Chi Minh City, preventing and controlling cross-infection in the hospital is extremely important.
Similar to Covid-19, measles is also transmitted through the respiratory tract, in the air. If medical facilities do not do a good job of infection control, it will lead to extremely dangerous consequences.
In addition, if the hands of medical staff are not properly cleaned, they can also spread hospital-acquired infections.
Faced with the reality that hospital infections cause many consequences for patients and the healthcare system, hospital leaders have recently invested resources in infection control.
To effectively control infections, one of the solutions that is simple, effective, and cost-effective is proper hand hygiene. According to Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Lien Huong, proper hand hygiene can prevent nearly 50% of hospital infections.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that hand hygiene is an important measure to reduce the risk of infection with Covid-19, monkeypox, measles, hand, foot and mouth disease, whooping cough, diarrhea, flu, etc.
WHO also prescribes 5 times when hand hygiene is required for each patient care session, including: Before contact with the patient, before performing sterile procedures, after exposure to patient secretions, after contact with the patient, and after contact with objects around the patient.
In order to minimize the risk of cross-infection and outbreaks of measles, whooping cough, etc. at medical examination and treatment facilities, the Ministry of Health recommends that the Department of Health of provinces and cities direct hospitals to effectively admit patients; provide timely treatment, and minimize cases that become severe and die.
In particular, medical examination and treatment facilities should strengthen screening activities, early detection and timely isolation of infected or suspected cases; mild cases without complications can be instructed to isolate and treat at home or at medical stations.
New directions in the treatment of metastatic colon cancer
Fruquintinib has been shown to be effective in prolonging life for patients with refractory metastatic colorectal cancer, according to the results of the 2023 FRESCO-2 study.
Information shared by Dr. Edward A. Pham, Deputy Director of Stanford Institute for Microbiology and Epidemiology at the 2024 Scientific Conference of Tam Anh General Hospital System.
The FRESCO-2 study was conducted at 124 hospitals and cancer centers in 14 countries, in patients 18 years of age and older with metastatic colorectal carcinoma refractory to prior therapies.
According to the study, the median survival time of patients participating in the study treated with Fruquintinib was 7.4 months, nearly double the 4.8 months of the placebo group.
Fruquintinib is a drug that slows, reduces, or stops the growth of blood vessels that supply blood to certain tumors. The initial FRESCO study conducted in 2017 on 416 patients in China also showed similar results. This result shows a positive signal for the development and application of specific drugs to treat metastatic colorectal cancer.
According to Gobocan 2022, colorectal cancer ranks 4th among the most common cancers in Vietnam with nearly 17,000 new cases, an increase compared to the Globocan 2020 report. Dr. Edward A. Pham shared in the report that colorectal cancer tends to be younger. "Although the incidence rate is still low, the number of young people under 50 years old with colorectal cancer tends to double."
So the age to start colorectal cancer screening should drop to 45 instead of 50, according to the American College of Gastroenterology's 2021 updated guidelines.
Metastatic colorectal cancer remains a medical challenge because of its rapid progression, drug resistance, and difficulty in treatment. The 5-year survival rate of patients is only about 14%.
According to Dr. Edward, in the past 20 years, the field of colorectal cancer treatment has made many advances. Before 2000, the disease was mainly treated with chemotherapy with limited effectiveness, with a survival time of about 1 year.
From 2000 to 2010, the combination of targeted therapy and chemotherapy improved survival by about 2 years.
From 2010 to 2020, immunotherapy was born, combined with targeted therapy and chemotherapy, the survival time for colorectal cancer patients was 3 years.
In the treatment of rectal cancer, neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy reduce tumor size, increase the rate of sphincter preservation in the low rectal tumor group to 65%, and reduce the rate of local recurrence. Laparoscopic rectal resection for the treatment of rectal cancer is confirmed to be safe and effective. Combined with long-term preoperative chemotherapy and radiotherapy effectively reduces the disease stage.
Sharing about colorectal cancer treatment methods, Dr. Vu Huu Khiem, Head of Oncology Department, Tam Anh General Hospital Hanoi said that in Vietnam, multimodal treatment is being implemented, with methods of surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy, similar to those in the world.
Treatment is indicated based on the stage of the disease, tumor location, pathology, gene mutation test results, and immune response. Surgery is usually indicated in the early stages, followed by chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. In the late stages, current treatment regimens include chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy.
Comment (0)