Spinal cord tumor, risk of disability if not treated promptly

Recently, the Department of Neurosurgery (A7B), 108 Central Military Hospital discovered and successfully operated on a young female patient with a spinal cord tumor in the thoracic spinal canal.

This is a difficult case, if not detected and treated promptly, it can lead to a very high risk of complete paralysis. Patient Tran T., 26 years old, from Nam Dinh, was admitted to the hospital with weak legs, had to be supported when walking (muscle strength 2/5), reduced sensation from the navel to both legs, and complete loss of sensation from the knee to the feet.

Illustration photo.

Taking medical history, half a month ago the patient's legs suddenly started to show signs of weakness and numbness after exercise.

At first, the patient thought it was due to fatigue from too much exercise, so he did not go to the doctor. Two weeks later, he started to experience severe pain, numbness, and paralysis in both legs. His family took him to the 108 Military Central Hospital for examination. After examination, the doctor ordered an MRI scan and discovered a tumor compressing the spinal cord. The patient was admitted to the hospital and scheduled for early surgery.

Immediately after discovering the tumor, Dr. Nguyen Khac Hieu , Department of Neurosurgery (A7B), 108 Central Military Hospital, said that the main surgeon in charge of the patient's surgery, along with the surgical and anesthesia team, successfully performed surgery to remove a spinal cord tumor in the thoracic spinal canal at the T6T7 segment measuring (1.5 x 2 cm) using microsurgery techniques.

The surgery lasted 3 hours, the entire tumor was completely removed. After surgery, the patient's legs recovered movement well, the feeling from the navel down to the feet returned to normal, the patient regained feeling from the knee down. On the 5th day after surgery, the patient was able to walk lightly.

After treatment at the Department of Neurosurgery A7B, the patient recovered quickly and had many positive changes. The patient was discharged after 1 week of treatment.

This is a difficult case, the clinical course of the disease is acute, easily confused with other diseases, the tumor is not large but located in the thoracic spinal cord area where the spinal canal is narrow, just a small impact during surgery can cause spinal cord damage, if not detected and treated promptly, the risk of complete paralysis is very high.

Spinal cord tumor is one of the dangerous diseases, often the initial clinical symptoms are very vague, easily confused with other common musculoskeletal diseases, only when the tumor compresses the spinal cord or nerve roots will it cause symptoms, if not treated promptly can cause paralysis and more dangerous can be life-threatening.

Dr. Nguyen Khac Hieu, Department of Neurosurgery (A7B) shared that when people discover symptoms of pain in the spine, numbness or weakness in the limbs, they need to immediately go to a specialized medical facility with full diagnostic equipment for timely examination and treatment, to avoid the disease progressing and leaving serious complications.

In addition, it is necessary to proactively protect your health by raising awareness of the disease, adopting a healthy lifestyle and having regular health check-ups.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/u-tuy-song-nguy-co-tan-phe-neu-khong-duoc-dieu-tri-kip-thoi-d223072.html