The boy with a deformed body, 5 years carrying a "rock" on his shoulder due to a rare disease

(Dan Tri) - From a small skin birthmark, many years later, the 29-year-old man was like carrying a giant rock on his shoulder, severely affecting his life. The patient sought help from many places but the "rock" kept getting bigger and bigger.

On July 24, speaking to Dan Tri reporter, Master, Doctor Nguyen Xuan Thien, Department of Burns and Cosmetic Surgery, Trung Vuong Hospital (HCMC), said that he and his colleagues had recently performed a difficult surgery, treating a very large tumor on a young patient.

The patient is a 29-year-old man named NTĐ. (residing in Dong Nai province). Medical history shows that since childhood, the patient had discovered a dark skin birthmark on his shoulder. In 6th grade, the birthmark began to grow. The patient had undergone surgery once at a pediatric hospital, with a diagnosis of neurofibromatosis.

The giant tumor made the patient feel like "carrying a rock on his shoulder" (Photo: NT).

In the past 5 years, the tumor on the patient's shoulder has been growing larger and larger. The patient has sought help from many places but has not received any thorough intervention.

At Trung Vuong Hospital, after examination, doctors recorded that the patient had a giant neurofibroma in the left shoulder and back area, causing the body to deform and look like "carrying rocks on the body".

The tumor not only affects aesthetics but also invades nerves, causing loss of function and inconvenience in the young man's daily activities, making it difficult for him to even go to the toilet and put on clothes.

Because the tumor was too large with many blood vessels feeding it, within 3 months the patient underwent intervention to block the blood vessels feeding the tumor 3 times. On July 22, a surgical team of 10 people (including 4 surgeons and anesthesia and medical equipment) from Trung Vuong Hospital performed the surgery to release the "rock" from the male patient.

The tumor contains many blood vessels, so the risk of bleeding during surgery is very high (Photo: NT).

According to Dr. Thien, the biggest difficulty in the surgery is that the patient is at risk of losing a large amount of blood, and the disease can completely recur afterwards.

After 5 hours of intense surgery, with meticulousness and smooth coordination, the doctors successfully removed the tumor measuring 40x30x10cm (weighing 2.2kg). After surgery, the patient's health is gradually recovering.

According to Dr. Thien, neurofibromatosis is a relatively rare condition, related to genetics with the formation of tumors in the central or peripheral nervous tissue. This condition is more common in children than adults, with an equal ratio of men and women.

Most neurofibromas are benign, only 3-5% are malignant, and can be single or multiple tumors. Notably, there is still no radical treatment for the disease, but mainly symptomatic and supportive treatment.

Doctors perform surgery to remove the tumor for the patient (Photo: NT).

“The characteristic of neurofibroma is that the blood vessels that feed the tumor are very abundant. In the above case, the blood vessels that feed the tumor come from the left subclavian artery and have 6-7 branches, so the risk of heavy bleeding and dangerous complications during surgery is very high.

People who discover a skin birthmark from a young age and it gradually increases in size over time should pay attention to going to the doctor early to get an accurate diagnosis and timely intervention," Dr. Thien recommends.

Before the above case, in 2022, Trung Vuong Hospital also received a 42-year-old woman with a giant neurofibroma on her back like a "turtle shell".

Doctors from the Burn and Plastic Surgery Department then performed surgery to remove a 2.6kg tumor in the patient's back that had partially necrosed.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/suc-khoe/chang-trai-bien-dang-co-the-5-nam-mang-tang-da-tren-vai-vi-can-benh-hiem-20250724102631936.htm