Children’s Hospital I in Ho Chi Minh City has successfully performed surgery to remove a tumor the size of a fist from the nasal cavity of a 14-year-old patient. This was the result of a vascular tumor, but due to an initial misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatment, the condition progressed to its advanced stage. The patient has been suffering from this illness for just over a year.
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| Doctor Hoang Son and patient Dat after successful surgery (Photo: VNE) |
Patient Tran Tan Dat, 14 years old (from Tien Giang), had prolonged nasal congestion and a runny nose, self-medicating for about a year without improvement. Eventually, the right nasal cavity became swollen, and family members noticed something protruding from his nose, prompting them to seek medical attention. Doctors initially diagnosed Dat with sinusitis and prescribed medication. After two months of treatment for sinusitis, not only did Dat’s condition not improve, but he also experienced nosebleeds, and two visible red masses appeared in his right nasal cavity. At the provincial hospital, doctors diagnosed him with polyp sinusitis (sinusitis with excess tissue) and referred him to Children’s Hospital I.
The development of Dat’s vascular fibroma was as follows: the tumor was located in the nose, causing swelling. It then obstructed the nasal passage within the cheek, progressed to erode the nasal septum, entering the maxillary bone, destroying the sphenoid sinus behind the maxilla, and reaching the pterygoid fossa, an area rich in crucial blood and nerve vessels. According to doctors, if the tumor continued to grow for another two weeks, Dat would surely face blindness and paralysis on one side of his body due to the compression of the nerves controlling these functions. Furthermore, the tumor could continue to grow, causing skull fractures and potentially leading to death. However, the patient could also die before skull rupture due to blood loss, with each incident resulting in approximately 400 ml of blood loss.
Doctors decided to operate immediately after receiving the biopsy results.
Doctor Dang Hoang Son, Head of the Ear, Nose, and Throat Department at Children’s Hospital I, noted that in such cases, the risk of death is extremely high in all three phases: pre-operative, during surgery, and post-operative. Prior to surgery, the patient could die from blood loss. During surgery, the process of tumor removal could affect important nerves, leading to blindness, paralysis, or even death. After surgery, there remains a risk of death due to blood loss from any impact on the surgical area. Therefore, post-operative care is crucial to ensure the success of the surgery. It would take two weeks to ensure the patient is safe.
Doctor Hoang Son also stated that the cause of this condition has not been clearly established. According to global medical literature, vascular fibromas are caused by growth hormone disorders. This condition commonly occurs in boys. “This disease is rare. Years ago, we did not encounter any cases, but in the past year, there have been two cases, with Dat’s being the most severe,” Doctor Hoang Son remarked.
Doctors advise that boys aged 13 to 16 experiencing prolonged nasal congestion, runny nose, and one-sided nosebleeds should immediately consider the possibility of vascular fibromas. They should be taken to the hospital for early treatment. When the tumor is still small, treatment is much simpler.
Vo An
