On the evening of December 19, Binh Dan Hospital announced that it had just performed robotic surgery to reconstruct the left diaphragm, helping male patient L.Q.G (66 years old, Tay Ninh) escape from a prolonged state of difficulty breathing due to a flaccid diaphragm.
Mr. G said that about 3 months before being hospitalized, he often had difficulty breathing, shortness of breath when exerting himself, moving or climbing stairs. During a routine health check, a doctor, while looking at his chest X-ray, discovered an abnormality in the left lung area.
When he came to Binh Dan Hospital for examination, the doctors diagnosed him with left diaphragmatic flabbiness, with the image of the left diaphragm arch being abnormally high. This condition reduces the volume of the left chest cavity. This is the reason why Mr. G has had difficulty breathing when exerting himself for many months now.
Diaphragmatic effusion puts patients at risk of respiratory failure and the only treatment is surgery. If surgery is not performed promptly, patients can easily fall into a state of difficulty breathing, pneumonia and other dangerous complications.
Among the three current methods of treating diaphragmatic laxity, patient G chose robotic surgery. The surgery took about 90 minutes. The amount of blood lost during the surgery was negligible. After robotic surgery, Mr. G recovered quickly, had a good appetite, moved flexibly, and was discharged early.
According to Dr. Nguyen Van Viet Thanh - Head of the Thoracic - Goiter Department of Binh Dan Hospital, because the chest does not have to be opened, the chest wall muscles and intercostal nerves are not damaged, so patients who undergo robotic surgery have less pain, better post-operative wound healing and improved respiratory function.
Robotic surgery also overcomes the disadvantages of laparoscopic surgery: flexible operating arms, wide operating angle, allowing for more convenient and precise diaphragmatic suturing.
Robotic surgery does not require additional small thoracic incisions. Robotic surgery time for treating diaphragmatic laxity is about 1/3 compared to conventional open surgery or laparoscopic surgery.
Dr. Viet Thanh said that diaphragmatic effacement is an uncommon disease and is often difficult to detect early because the initial symptoms are unclear. This disease is mostly discovered through a random examination or when the patient comes to the clinic for another symptom such as shortness of breath, chest tightness or limited physical activity.
The causes of diaphragmatic laxity are very diverse, it can be due to age, trauma, previous surgery or diseases such as obesity, activities that increase abdominal pressure, tumors spreading to the phrenic nerve causing diaphragmatic paralysis.
The diaphragm is the muscle that separates the abdominal and thoracic cavities, controlled by the phrenic nerve. It is the main respiratory muscle, responsible for 70-80% of respiratory function in the human body.
