Patient D. T. P in Hai Phong has a history of breast cancer and has been treated with chemotherapy combined with surgery. After treatment, the patient's health has been stable for more than 5 years.
However, in recent years, patients have occasionally had back pain but thought it was due to spinal degeneration, so they did not go for in-depth examination. About 1 month before being hospitalized, the pain appeared more, spreading down to both legs, causing discomfort, affecting daily life and making walking difficult.
When examined at K Hospital, doctors prescribed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and discovered a complex lumbar spinal cord tumor, extending about 15cm from the lumbar region to near the aorta. Notably, the tumor compressed the tip of the spinal cord - a very important area, related to leg movement and bladder and urinary control function.
Doctor Nguyen Thai Hoc, Department of Neurosurgery, K Hospital, said that this is a very sensitive location. If not intervened in time or surgery is not safe, patients are at risk of paralysis of both lower limbs, and even loss of ability to control bowel movements and urination.
According to doctors, the difficulty of the case lies not only in the large size of the tumor, but also because the tumor invaded the tip of the spinal cord - an area at high risk of injury during surgery.
The team of the Department of Neurosurgery, K Hospital, performed microsurgery combined with a neural warning system during surgery to maximally protect the spinal cord function for the patient. After 4.5 hours of surgery, the entire tumor was removed.
After only 3 days, the patient was able to practice walking gently.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Duc Lien, Head of Neurosurgery Department, K Hospital, recommends that people when experiencing prolonged back pain, accompanied by difficulty walking or difficulty urinating, should go for an early examination and spinal resonance imaging to detect abnormalities and treat them promptly.
