The woman suffered from ulcers for 10 years after radiation treatment for cancer
After radiation therapy for perineal cancer, the female patient had an ulcer in the sacrum. The family tried many ways to cure but all failed.
The patient is a 67-year-old woman. About 10 years ago, she treated cancer of the perineum with radiation therapy with good results. However, radiation damages the sacroiliac skin.
The patient’s family said that they have searched for many ways to treat the ulcer area. However, the cover failed because it could not heal the skin, the size was about 8x14cm.
Recently, the patient was admitted to the Department of Gastroenterology, Nguyen Tri Phuong Hospital (HCMC). Through consultation, the doctors decided to undergo plastic surgery, using flaps of skin – fascia at the branch of blood vessels that are posterior femoral artery and lower gluteal artery.
The doctors removed all the tissue in the sacroiliac area that had been destroyed by radiation and replaced it with healthy tissue next to it. Then, take a skin flap measuring 10x25cm to cover it, helping the patient recover.
Doctor, Doctor Nguyen Van Thanh, in charge of the Department of Plastic and Plastic Surgery, said that the skin flap is now well nourished by blood vessels and thick enough to withstand pressure when the patient is lying down. According to Dr. Thanh, radiation damage like this one is not simply due to pressure ulcers.
Pressure ulcers occur when the patient is not rotated regularly, the body weight is pressed on a skin site continuously for a long time, causing local ischemia. From there, the damage will spread.
Meanwhile, radiation, in addition to killing cancer cells, also destroys healthy tissue cells, damaging part of the skin surface and part of the bone in the sacrum. The recovery of healthy tissue cells is very difficult.
Currently, vascular pedicle flaps with microsurgery are applied in head, face and neck surgery, in patients with large cancerous lesions. This method helps to cover flaws, create aesthetic shapes, and help patients recover and integrate.
Doctor Thanh recommends that, when taking care of patients lying in bed for a long time, they must be turned over often. There are many means of supporting this such as revolving beds, air mattresses or electric mattresses to help support areas that are often pressurized such as the sacrum, hips, back, occipital – nape, outer ankle…
Linh Giao
The man had to undergo radiation therapy due to nasopharyngeal cancer, causing an already weak jaw to gradually degenerate and rot.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vietnamnet.vn – Read the original article here
