Hepatectomy surgery at Hue Central Hospital. Photo: Hue Central Hospital
"My child was born again"
Although not being able to put into words, that was our most common feeling - the women who experienced the struggle with "Death" to keep their babies.
Bao T. was one of the two girls who had their hepatectomy due to cancer successfully performed by Hue Central Hospital in February 2020. At the time of surgery, Bao T. was 5 years old, skinny, with only 15kg. The second child, Tran Hoang Bao H. was much younger, less than 12 months old and weighed only 5.5kg.
Without any appointment, two "Bao" girls, one from Thua Thien Hue and the other from Quang Nam, were amitted to Hue Central Hospital almost at the same time, due to hepatocellular carcinoma with large tumor.
Hepatocellular carcinoma is very rare in children, with a rate of only 1-2/1000000 and is treated with multiple modalities, first by chemotherapy and then with hepatectomy or liver transplant. Although the tumor was smaller than the original one, it made up a large portion of the liver, so both of them were scheduled to have partial hepatectomy, more than 50%.
Both surgeries were performed by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Anh Vu, with anesthetic resuscitation team at Treatment on Demands & International Center of Hue Central Hospital. They were the first two cases of hepatectomy in young children with hepatocellular carcinoma in multi-therapy treatment at Hue Central Hospital and in the Central and Central Highland region.
According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Anh Vu, hepatectomy was a difficult surgery. It was already difficult with a mature body, the fact that they were children made it even more challenging. In young children, the most dangerous thing was that it would be easy to lose huge amount of blood without compensation and following liver failure after surgery. Therefore, this operation has not been carried out yet.
In the case of Bao T. and Bao H., the hospital had to ensure good conditions of anesthesia, surgeons and coordinated teams to be extremely synchronized before deciding to conduct the surgery. The surgery was successful, as chemical therapy was applied continuously according to guidelines, with the recovery rate up to 97-98%.
Holding Bao T. in her arms, the young mother Nguyen Thi Hoa was happy: “Since the operation up to now, my child has gained 3kg. Recalling the feeling like falling off the cliff since I heard that my child had liver cancer until now, I still can not express my joy. I just pray for my child’s health and peace.”
Hard to believe that it was possible
In the fight against recent COVID-19 pandemic, Hue Central Hospital continued to make its mark with memorable figures: Successful treatment of 4 confirmed cases; detected and treated hundreds of suspected cases with epidemiological factors; screening more than 100,000 patients, relatives, people coming for work, and running laboratory tests for more than 9,000 cases; of which, more than 8,700 samples sent by the Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Truong Son - Deputy Minister of Health inquired, presented gifts to doctors fighting against the pandemic on the front line inside the isolation area, with intensive treatment for COVID-19 cases at Hue Central Hospital – branch 2. Photo: Phan Thanh
In February 2020, Hue Central Hospital was a special unit in the Central region and the fifth unit nationwide to perform diagnostic tests COVID-19 with Real Time PCR technique. On this mission, the Board of Directors of the Hospital have always committed to devote all efforts so that the testing task could achieve the best results.
Thanks to that, from the initial capacity with only 80-100 samples tested, from 4/4 to 20/4, each day the hospital ran laboratory tests for 400-450 samples. There was a day with 498 samples tested.
In some logistics support situation, Dr. Mai Van Tuan, Dean of the Microbiology Department, recalled the lesson of the shortage of materials. “There was one day, sadly, the first day of social distancing, as all flights to Hue had stopped. The Department only had 100 test kits remained, while up to 300 samples were waiting to be tested. Upon hearing our report, the Board of Directors decided that the immediate plan would be to only test 70-80 samples, as the rest would be saved for emergency cases; at the same time, they actively contacted all possible places to support Hue. Although the supplies were there, the plane back to Hue was not available. Finally, as soon as the supplies were arranged, Dr. Nguyen Thanh Xuan, Deputy Director of Hue Central Hospital, contacted with freight companies to transport supplies by cars from Ho Chi Minh City to Hue right in the same night,” Dr. Mai Van Tuan smiled.
Prof. Dr. Pham Nhu Hiep, Director of Hue Central Hospital, spoke directly on the phone with patients in COVID-19 isolated area. Photo: Thu Thuy
With hand signing papers of results for more than 300 samples just completed testing, Dr. Mai Van Tuan was excited: “In March, when Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son came to work with Thua Thien Hue province, listening to Prof. Pham Nhu Hiep promising to try to improve the testing capacity to 200-300 samples/day, I was very worried. Yet now, after the addition of human resource, rearranging the working line, the department has been able to make it to nearly 500samples/day. It is unbelievable that we could make it.”
Being swept away in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, on some occasions that we could meet Dr. Mai Van Tuan previously, he was always in a hurry, walking like running. Even the eyes on his face covered by a mask never showed a smile. But this conversation was in a completely different situation. That's when our whole country continues to have days without any confirmed cases. The number of people isolated by the province has been no more.
"Do you know what is the best thing for the hospital?" Dr. Tuan asked, then replied it with a strong voice: "It is every morning when you hear the technician quickly report: "Yes, all negative, doctor!". It felt so good to have received the good news. Fortunately, from the beginning of the pandemic, we have only received 2 positive results in the province”.
And we all expect that wonderful news everyday.
By THU THUY