Vinh City General Hospital 'revives' foot at risk of gangrene for 88-year-old woman
(Baonghean.vn) - An 88-year-old woman (Thanh Chuong) suffered from necrosis of the tip of her right toe, along with a complex underlying disease. She had been treated at a higher-level hospital for a while but did not improve. Recently, she was fortunate to have had a successful surgery by doctors at Vinh City General Hospital, keeping her feet intact.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Ky suffered from severe pain in her right foot and toes. Two months ago, she was admitted to a major hospital for treatment. However, due to the complex vascular damage and severe underlying medical conditions (very severe aortic valve regurgitation, stage 3 heart failure), the doctor advised only pain medication and could not perform surgery.
However, by April 1, the patient was in severe pain and had signs of necrosis on her second toe and was at risk of spreading to her right foot. The disease progressed severely, the pain made her unable to sleep; frequent insomnia caused her health to decline significantly. Her family decided to take her to Vinh General Hospital in the hope that the doctor could save her leg and accepted that in the worst case scenario, the right leg would be amputated to help her escape the pain.
At the hospital, she was directly examined by Master, resident physician Nguyen Dinh Giang - Deputy Head of Department of General Surgery 01, an expert in vascular surgery and intervention, and was assigned to have a 256-slice CT scan, reconstructing the entire vascular system of the two lower limbs. The department also conducted a heart disease consultation with the hospital's cardiovascular specialist. The patient was diagnosed with: complete occlusion of the femoral artery and the arterial system below the knee of the right leg/very severe aortic valve regurgitation - Stage 3 heart failure.
After carefully studying the patient's vascular damage, Dr. Nguyen Dinh Giang proposed the optimal treatment plan to preserve the old woman's foot.
Accordingly, the team of doctors and nurses from the General Surgery Department 01, led by Dr. Nguyen Dinh Giang - Deputy Head of the Department, Dr. Dau Thien Hoang and Dr. Hoang Thanh Son directly performed surgery on the patient.
Dr. Nguyen Dinh Giang said: “In normal cases, the patient’s saphenous vein can be used to bridge the distal femoral-tibial segment behind the foot. However, in Ms. Ky’s case, the superficial vein system was sclerotic and deformed in the lower leg, so it could not be used as a suture material. Therefore, we used a PTFE artificial blood vessel with a coil to bring blood from the thigh to the patient’s foot. This is a case of complex injury. If surgery is not performed promptly, necrosis will spread to the entire foot and the leg will have to be amputated.
At Vinh General Hospital, with a system of standardized operating rooms, modern medical equipment fully meeting the needs of sterile and highly technical surgeries, along with a team of well-trained, experienced professionals and smooth coordination between specialties; allowing the implementation of complex techniques, precise suturing of small blood vessels and nerve fiber bundles.
Thanks to that, after nearly 3 hours, the surgery was a great success. Fortunately, in the patient's case, the arteries in both legs were larger than normal, so the suturing with artificial blood vessels was quite suitable and convenient. After the surgery, the blood vessels in the right foot sole pulsated clearly, the toes showed signs of returning to pink, and the skin was significantly warmer than the left foot.
After surgery, the patient's health improved significantly. She was able to sleep soundly after more than a month of being awake due to terrible pain, and was able to walk and move around.
Mrs. Ky happily shared: "After a long time of suffering from illness, thought to be incurable, I was fortunate to have doctors at Vinh General Hospital find an effective treatment method. After surgery, my illness has improved a lot. I am very grateful to the doctors and medical staff of the hospital. Thanks to their dedicated and thoughtful care, my health has recovered well and my legs have miraculously recovered."
The joy of the patient's recovery has added positive energy to the hospital's team of doctors and medical staff to continuously strive to improve their expertise and provide better health care for people./.
