Successful laparoscopic surgery to treat rare abdominal wall hernia

( CTO ) - Doctors from the General Surgery Department in collaboration with the anesthesia and resuscitation team of Can Tho General Hospital have successfully performed laparoscopic surgery on a patient with a very rare abdominal wall hernia.

Patient T.D.H (67 years old, living in Ninh Kieu district, Can Tho city) had a ruptured liver abscess and was admitted to the emergency room and treated with laparoscopic surgery nearly 5 years ago. After being discharged from the hospital, about 2 months later, Mr. H had a bulge in his right hip where the drainage tube was placed in the previous surgery. A few months later, he saw another bulge right at his navel and left hip, sometimes causing mild pain. 6 months ago, another bulge appeared in the left groin area. Because there were many bulges on his abdomen, recently when Mr. H worked, the bulges grew larger and caused pain, affecting his work, so he decided to go to Can Tho City General Hospital for examination and treatment.

Through examination and abdominal CT scan results, doctors diagnosed Mr. H with 3 abdominal hernias (abdominal hernia is a condition in which the abdominal organs protrude through a weak point in the abdominal wall) at the right hip, left hip and navel, along with a left inguinal hernia. This is a very rare case of abdominal hernia in multiple locations in a patient and the treatment is quite complicated. Doctors conducted a consultation and prescribed the PTNS method of placing an artificial mesh completely outside the peritoneum. After about 3 hours, the surgery was successful; after a day, the patient's health was stable, he could eat and walk.

According to Dr. La Van Phu, Head of the Department of General Surgery, the main surgeon of the surgical team, PTNS placing artificial mesh completely outside the peritoneum to treat abdominal wall hernia is a difficult and complicated technique, especially in cases of large abdominal wall hernias with multiple locations. Currently, only a few hospitals in the country apply this technique. This is also a case of abdominal wall hernia with multiple locations where this technique was applied at Can Tho General Hospital. Treatment of abdominal wall hernia by PTNS placing artificial mesh outside the peritoneum has been proven to have many advantages, such as aesthetics, less pain, quick recovery, early return to work, low recurrence rate and much lower cost than placing artificial mesh in the peritoneum.

Dr. La Van Phu added that abdominal wall hernia is a fairly common surgical disease. If the disease is diagnosed and treated early, the results are usually good, especially if it can be treated with PTNS, which has many advantages. On the contrary, if the hernia is allowed to continue to grow larger, it can even lead to complications such as strangulation and necrosis. Treatment will be very complicated, expensive and can be life-threatening.