6-year-old boy has kidney 'strayed' up to his chest

Image of congenital left diaphragmatic hernia with herniated organs being the spleen, small intestine, colon and ectopic kidney on the child's chest - Photo: Provided by the hospital

On August 16, the National Children's Hospital ( Hanoi ) announced that it had just received and successfully performed surgery on the above child patient.

Baby T. (6 years old, Hanoi) was admitted to the hospital because of chest pain and recurrent respiratory infections. The child was clinically examined by doctors, had chest X-rays and computed tomography scans. The observed images showed a left diaphragmatic hernia with herniated organs being the spleen, colon, small intestine, and an ectopic left kidney on the chest.

According to doctors, diaphragmatic hernia with ectopic kidney in the chest is a rare injury (accounting for 0.25% of all diaphragmatic hernia cases).

In the world medical literature, this lesion has only been reported in individual clinical cases. The lesion in the case of baby T. was accompanied by a congenital malformation of the lower respiratory tract (a separate lung mass) with vascular association with an ectopic kidney, not observed on preoperative imaging.

After assessing the child's condition, Mr. Pham Duy Hien - Deputy Director of the National Children's Hospital and Dr. To Manh Tuan, Head of the Thoracic Surgery Department, agreed on the diagnosis and indicated surgery.

The surgical goal is to return the herniated organs to the abdomen and reconstruct the left diaphragm. At the same time, prepare the means for intensive resuscitation before, during and after surgery for the child.

After 3 hours, the surgery was successful. The child's abnormal isolated lung mass was removed without damaging the left renal vein. The herniated organs (including the ectopic left kidney) were returned to the abdominal cavity, the left diaphragm was reconstructed and returned to its normal anatomical position.

The baby was treated stably after surgery and discharged 7 days after surgery to the joy and happiness of the family and medical team.

Doctors also said that mastering the resuscitation process and surgery for congenital diaphragmatic hernia has opened up much hope for babies unfortunately born with this congenital defect.

In addition, with the development of prenatal diagnostic methods, diaphragmatic hernia can be diagnosed early in pregnancy, helping to predict fetal development and best prepare for resuscitation, significantly increasing the ability to save the patient's life.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/be-trai-6-tuoi-co-than-di-lac-len-long-nguc-20240816120959669.htm