According to Professor, Dr. Tran Trung Dung, Director of Vinmec Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center, the biggest motivation that urged the medical team to perform this "revolutionary" surgery was because the patient was too young.
“ We have performed hundreds of joint replacements for bone cancer patients, but this is a special case because of the child’s young age. We are researching the most active treatment plan to ensure both the child’s health and quality of life after treatment. With limb preservation surgery using the growth joint, the child can completely return to normal activities with moderate activities such as cycling and swimming after recovery,” said Professor, Dr. Tran Trung Dung.
Patient Truc L. was diagnosed with cancer at the lower end of the left femur at Vinmec Times City International General Hospital. After close monitoring and consultation to develop a treatment plan, the team of doctors from the Department of Bone and Soft Tissue Surgery (Northern Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Center - Vinmec Times City) decided to perform limb-preserving surgery for the patient. To ensure radical surgery, the doctors had to widely cut the tumor, the plan was to widely cut the femur containing the tumor, 16 cm long, then replace it with artificial bone.
In addition to implementing complex techniques in limb preservation surgery, doctors also face the challenge of limb length discrepancy after surgery because the patient is in the age of strong bone growth. With conventional joint replacement methods, the artificial bone will not lengthen naturally like the development of human bones, leading to a leg length discrepancy when the patient is an adult of up to 5-7cm, affecting limb function as well as aesthetics. To solve this challenge, for the first time in Vietnam, doctors decided to use a growth joint system in limb preservation surgery to treat bone cancer.
This is a specially designed joint with the ability to adjust the length. Previously, when wanting to lengthen the leg after joint replacement surgery, the patient would have to undergo major bone graft surgery. By using the growth joint, when the child grows taller after 1 to 2 years and there is a difference between the operated leg and the remaining leg, the doctors will perform a minor surgery to lengthen the growth joint like the natural development of the bone, by opening the screw that has been divided into steps, thereby balancing the length of the two legs. The child does not have to undergo painful and expensive surgery.
Truc L. is the youngest patient ever to have joint replacement surgery at Vinmec, so the types of joints on the market are not compatible with the patient's bones. To solve this problem, doctors designed a growth joint that fits the patient's measurements and had it 3D printed for surgery.
On the afternoon of the second day after surgery, the patient was able to walk with a walker, and on the afternoon of the third day, the patient was able to use crutches to move around on his own.
Limb-sparing surgery using growth plate is a step forward in the treatment of bone cancer in Vietnam, where the disease often occurs in young people. When this technique is successfully applied, patients and their families will no longer have to face painful and expensive major amputations or leg lengthening surgeries.
Specialist 2, Nguyen Tran Quang Sang, Head of the Department of Bone and Soft Tumor Surgery (Vinmec Times City Hospital) added that switching from amputation surgery to limb-preserving surgery in the treatment of bone cancer has become a world trend when evidence shows that there is not much difference in the rate of recurrence and metastasis between the two surgical methods.
“Recently published studies show that the survival rate of the conservative surgery group is much higher than that of the amputation group. Meanwhile, conservative surgery brings clear functional, aesthetic and psychological benefits to patients and their families, ” said Dr. Sang.
    |
| Video of sick child learning to walk. |
It is known that in Vietnam, Vinmec is now able to successfully perform limb-preserving surgery in 80-90% of bone cancer cases, thanks to the use of modern methods and technologies approaching advanced countries in the world, such as the growth joint replacement method of patient Truc L.
NGOC QUYNH
Source
Comment (0)