Doctors Than Trong Vu and Le Kim Phuong at the Da Nang General Hospital have just successfully performed surgery on 75-year-old Tran Thi Hue from Hoa Vang District’s Hoa Bac Commune.  This is the first time that the hospital’s Neurology and Thoracic Surgery Department has carried out the surgical removal of a tumour on such an elderly tracheal cancer patient.

On 5 February, Mrs Hue was admitted to the hospital due to shortness of breath and persistent coughing up of blood.  With the help of a chest-computed tomography scan and a bronchioscopy, the doctors detected a tumour which had completely invaded Mrs Hue’s trachea.  They decided to perform immediate surgery to save her life.  After her over 1 hour-long operation, Mrs Hue’s health is now gradually improving and she is able to breathe, eat and drink normally.

Mrs Hue recovering from the surgery

According to her pathology test results, Mrs Hue was diagnosed with cystic adenocarcinoma, a rare disease which accounts for about 0.2% of the total cases of respiratory system cancers.  It is difficult to detect the disease in its early stages.  In addition, the disease can lead to respiratory failure as well as threaten the lives of the patients unless doctors carry out emergency airway management.