The patient is Ms. T.T.V. (born in 1994, from Khanh Hoa), admitted to the hospital in a state of large ulcers on the edge of the right tongue. According to medical history, the injury appeared about 2 years ago, but the patient subjectively did not go for examination because he thought the ulcers in the tongue were a common sign.
Through clinical examination, lesion biopsy and image diagnosis by MRI, the patient was diagnosed with carcinoma of the right side of the tongue, late stage; large tumor, deeply encroaching on the tongue muscle and spreading to the opposite side.
Faced with the widespread extent of the lesion, the surgical team proceeded to cut almost the entire tongue combined with draining the lymph nodes on both sides of the neck. Due to the very large size of the post-operative defect, the in situ and nearby patches did not meet the shaping requirements, the team chose microsurgery to shape the tongue with an outer thigh patch (ALT).
This is a modern method, allowing anatomy structural restoration with high bioavailability, contributing to improving eating and living functions for patients.
Major, resident doctor Nguyen Van Dan - Department of Surgery and Maxillofacial Plastic Surgery, Military Hospital 175 said: "After removing the tumor, the key issue is to treat major lesions in the tongue area. For minor lesions, local or adjacent bandages can be used. However, in this case, the gap after widening almost the entire tongue is very large, the adjacent bandages are not enough to meet the shaping requirements. Therefore, the optimal option is to use a remote free bandage, specifically the anterior and outer thigh bandage (ALT)".
After surgery, the patient's condition stabilized; the graft patch was pinkish, with little edema; the surgical wounds in the neck and thigh area were healed and good. The tongue movement function improved significantly, convenient for daily eating and living exercises.
From the reality of this case, it shows that oral cavity cancer is one of the most common cancers in the head and neck area, ranking third after nasopharyngeal cancer and laryngeal cancer. The disease usually starts silently, with unclear initial symptoms such as prolonged mouth ulcers, difficulty chewing, difficulty swallowing, mild sore throat, changes in voice or numbness in the tongue area.
Major, doctor Nguyen Van Dan also advised people not to be subjective about abnormal signs in the oral cavity. Early detection of tongue cancer is decisive, helping to reduce the level of surgical intervention and improve the ability to restore function; at the same time, it is necessary to limit risk factors such as smoking and drinking alcohol, factors that significantly increase the risk of oral cavity cancer.
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