Lighting up faith from the heart of a physician

Two patients - two different journeys but they were revived with the same will to live and a strong belief in the miraculous hands of doctors.

Dr. Le Trung Hieu and his team performed the surgery.

Journey to find faith again

In October 2024, at the age of 29, Ms. Tran To Ng. ( Ha Tinh ) discovered a giant hemangioma in her liver in a very dangerous location (lower segment 1 of the liver). The disease has affected her health, making her hope fragile at times.

After many visits to major hospitals, the family only received head shakes: " The tumor is in a very difficult position, intervention is very complicated and will endanger life, surgery is not possible " . The more she went to many places for examination and learned about the tumor, the more she went through difficult days, her mood always wavering between hope and fear.

In the midst of the uncertain days, she persisted in finding a treatment method, because she had never given up hope. A doctor who was also a close friend introduced her to Hanoi , to the 108 Military Central Hospital. She and her husband decided to leave with a fragile belief.

The surgery was challenging but the team was successful.

At the 108 Military Central Hospital, after a thorough examination and diagnosis of a giant liver hemangioma occupying the entire first segment of the lower lobe, pressing on the hepatic pedicle and inferior vena cava, which are very important anatomical components of the body, the doctors of the Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery Department (B3-B) consulted and determined that this would be a very difficult surgery even with open surgery.

After explaining in detail to Ms. Ng's family and seeing the patient's determination, the doctors decided to treat her thoroughly with laparoscopic liver resection surgery.

The surgery lasted 6 hours, tense to the point of suffocation. It was a very difficult challenge when the giant tumor pressed on the body's important blood vessels and the surgical team used their intelligence, skills and perseverance, handling each step carefully to overcome.

Behind the surgical incisions was a high level of concentration, behind each decision was a collective consensus. The tumor was removed, waking up after surgery in the recovery room, Ms. Ng burst into tears when she learned that her laparoscopic surgery had been successful.

Giant liver hemangioma is a benign tumor but is very large and dangerous because it can rupture and cause life-threatening bleeding. Liver resection is a radical treatment method, but it is very difficult because the tumor is very large and rich in blood vessels. Laparoscopic liver resection surgery has now been applied with many benefits for patients such as pain relief, fewer complications and faster recovery. This technique requires experienced surgeons and modern equipment. Currently, many cases have been successfully performed in Vietnam, affirming a new step forward in the treatment of this disease.

A decade of living in constant anxiety

While Ms. Ng has only been dealing with the disease for a short time, Ms. Nguyen Thanh H. (born in 1983, Da Nang ) has had to live with the tumor for more than a decade. In 2013, she discovered a large hemangioma in her liver. At that time, the doctor only advised monitoring. But over the years, the tumor quietly grew larger, like a “time bomb” in her body.

By 2025, the tumor had grown to approximately 15cm despite the patient having undergone tumor embolization. The tumor had even grown so close to the base of the middle hepatic vein. The risk of tumor rupture was always present, causing her to live in a state of constant anxiety.

She confided: “In those days, I lived with a constant feeling of insecurity. Even a small collision made me worry that the tumor would burst, and I had many sleepless nights.”

During those troubled days, she was introduced by a doctor at Da Nang C Hospital to Hanoi to meet doctors from the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery (B3-B), 108 Central Military Hospital.

The surgery posed many challenges for the team.

On July 17, the laparoscopic liver resection surgery was performed. For 5 hours, the team worked diligently and carefully with each complicated operation. The biggest challenge was to remove the giant tumor while still preserving the middle hepatic vein - an extremely important vein of the liver. The surgery was successful, and a week later, Ms. H. was discharged from the hospital.

Four weeks after the surgery, she was able to drive her motorbike more than 25 km a day to go to work. The recovery was so quick that even she herself could not believe it. “ I realized that what saved me was not only the surgery, but also faith. That faith came from the hearts and minds of the medical staff, from the doctors at Da Nang Hospital to Dr. Hieu, from the entire surgical team to the dedicated nursing team ,” Ms. H. shared.

According to Dr. Le Trung Hieu, Deputy Director of the Organ Transplant Center, Hepatobiliary Pancreatic Surgeon of the 108 Central Military Hospital, when they were admitted to the hospital, both patients had giant tumors, one in a very dangerous position in the first segment, pressing on the hepatic pedicle and the inferior vena cava, both of which are particularly important anatomical structures of the liver and the body. The other had a tumor on the left side of nearly 15cm, pressing on the root of the middle hepatic vein, a very important blood drainage vein of the liver.

These are all very complicated cases, if not treated thoroughly, the risk of complications is very high.

Dr. Le Trung Hieu reported at the 2024 National Conference on Surgery and Endoscopic Surgery.

The team consulted many times, analyzed each risk and approach. In particular, with the tumor in segment 1, the team had to prepare scenarios to control bleeding from the branches of the inferior vena cava, and for the remaining patient, they had to try to preserve the middle hepatic vein.

Although the nature of the surgery is very complicated and difficult even when performing open surgery, the doctors ultimately decided to choose laparoscopic surgery, with the goal of being both thorough and minimally invasive, helping the patient recover quickly.

"What moved us was the determination and faith of both patients. Despite years of worrying and searching for a cure, they persevered and did not give up. That determination was a great motivation for the surgical team to overcome challenges and bring results worthy of the trust the patients had placed in us," Dr. Hieu added.

The stories of Ms. Ng. and Ms. H., as well as many other stories that have not yet been told, all have one thing in common: faith. From despair to revival, from darkness to light, all are connected by a fragile but miraculous thread - the light of medical ethics, of humanity, of the white-coated doctors of the 108 Central Military Hospital.

The Department of Hepatobiliary Pancreatic Surgery (B3-B), 108 Central Military Hospital is the leading center for hepatobiliary pancreatic surgery and liver transplantation in Vietnam and in Southeast Asia. The department has developed and applied many advanced endoscopic techniques in the treatment of hepatobiliary pancreatic diseases including: liver grafting from living donors, resection of giant liver hemangioma, liver resection for biliary tract stones, liver resection with ICG application, pancreaticoduodenal resection, percutaneous nephrolithotomy... These successes affirm the department's leading pioneering position in the specialty of hepatobiliary pancreatic surgery.

AN NGOC

Source: https://nhandan.vn/thap-sang-niem-tin-tu-trai-tim-nguoi-thay-thuoc-post905987.html