Careful surgery to remove ovarian tumor for HIV-infected girl
To remove a 6 kg tumor from a patient, doctors at Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital had to be very careful to control the risk of HIV exposure.
26 year old female patient from Long Andiscovered a small tumor in her breast 3 years ago. Then she also discovered she was infected with HIV so she gave up in despair. The tumor became more and more serious, her abdomen was swollen, the tumor in her breast was swollen and oozing fluid, her arm was swollen and painful. After her family advised her many times, the patient went to Ho Chi Minh City for examination.
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Doctors carefully removed ovarian tumor from HIV patient.Photo provided by doctor. |
Dr. Nguyen Van Tien, Head of Department of Surgery 1, Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital, said the patient had both breast and ovarian cancer. The doctor ordered surgery for the ovarian tumor first and then continued treatment for the breast cancer.
"When performing ovarian surgery, blood vessels proliferate a lot. If not controlled well, blood can spurt out, so the surgical team must be extremely careful. The doctor must use his hands to remove the tumor directly. If there is any negligence, there is a risk of HIV exposure," Dr. Tien shared.
Ovarian tumor removal surgeries usually last about an hour. For HIV patients, the operations require careful handling, so after two hours of intense surgery on April 1, doctors were able to remove a tumor weighing about 6 kg from the patient's ovary.
The patient’s immune system was weakened, so the surgical wounds took a long time to heal and the breast tumor was leaking fluid. Doctors and nurses had a hard time taking care of the patient post-surgery. The patient’s health is now stable and she is continuing chemotherapy to treat her breast cancer.
