Three months of travelling everywhere looking for a doctor who could treat pancreatitis for baby-girl Nguyen Phuong Khanh My (17-month-old, Hanoi) left her family anxious and fretting. Singaporean doctors could not help her. Only after coming to Vinmec did genuine smiles return to both the baby and her family.
Baby girl My is familiar with the friendliness and thoughtful caring of Dr. Mai Kieu Anh – Department of Pediatrics, Vinmec International Hospital.
Although baby Khanh My had been developing normally, 3 months ago she suddenly developed an abdominal distension and anorexia. Concerned about the strange symptoms, her family took her to a hospital in Hanoi for a pediatric examination. Doctors there concluded that the baby had pancreatitis and treated her with intravenous fluids and GI rest. After 2 months in the hospital, her condition had not improved and her pancreatic enzymes continued to rise. Furthermore, she could not maintain her normal weight through oral nutrition, and her body weakened as her weight fell from 8.5 kg to only 6.3 kg.
Being disheartened and seeing their baby girl get weaker and weaker, her family decided to seek treatment in Singapore. “The doctors in Singapore said that she did not have any disease and her pancreas condition was merely due to stool impaction. They told us that after 3 to 6 months, her body would recover without any treatment” – Mrs. Vo Hai Yen, Khanh My’s grandmother, remembered. The family returned home, but continued to witness the toddler’s health worsen. Almost desperate, the family took her to Vinmec International Hospital, trusting the Vinmec doctors to find a cure.
Baby girl My recovered, healthy, and adorable after 2 weeks of treatment at Vinmec International Hospital.
Khanh My was hospitalized in a state of severe malnutrition, with dyspnea, abdominal distention, and tender breasts. The testing results at Vinmec showed that amylase and lipase were elevated in her blood. X-ray images showed changes in the left lung compatible with pancreatitis, while abdominal ultrasound and CT showed there was fluid with pseudocysts around the liver, spleen, and pancreas. With these signs, any delay of treatment further endangered the baby’s life.
The doctors at Vinmec decided to perform pleural drainage, retrieving a volume of 500ml pleural fluid with increased amylase and placed a catheter for complete drainage. This improved her lung ventilation. However, the infected pleural fluid caused the pleural cavity to divide into many small spaces, causing the lung to fail to open. Prof. Nguyen Thanh Liem, CEO of the Hospital, repeatedly performed periodic endoscopic fluid removal from the patient’s lung.
After surgery, Khanh My still had a high fever and an elevated white blood count indicating infection, so she continued to receive active treatment consisting of respiratory support with mechanical ventilation, and strong antibiotics combined with immunity-enhancing medication. With this treatment method, Khanh My was gradually weaned from the ventilator and began oral nutrition, with additional intravenous nutritional support. Day by day, her health improved, and gradually the survival indexes and pancreatic enzymes normalized.
After more than 2 weeks of treatment at Vinmec International Hospital, she was discharged on December 5 th . “After 3 months of stress and anxiety due to witnessing her pain, weight loss, and sickness, my family is really happy and emotional today. The result is perhaps even better than our expectations. To see her laughing, dancing, and eating well, I cannot believe it at all, because just a short time ago she mostly just stayed in bed, without speaking or laughing. The determination of the doctors at Vinmec’s Department of Pediatrics, especially the care from Dr. Mai Kieu Anh, brought health to my granddaughter and peace of mind to my family. We gratefully thank you, and feel affection as well as admiration for the doctors and nurses here” – Khanh My’s grandma emotionally shared on the day her granddaughter was discharged from the hospital.
Prof. PhD. Nguyen Thanh Liem – CEO of Vinmec International Hospital clarified: “Pancreatitis in children can be caused by worms, ductal malformations, deformed joints between pipe duct, biliary malformations, sugar in the pancreas, and injuries, etc. Some causes are easy to detect but, despite all tests, sometimes the etiology is unknown. Khanh My’s case is an example of acute pancreatitis with a difficult-to-detect cause. Prof. Liem stressed the importance of paying special attention to children who complain of abdominal pain with no identified cause or where ultrasound detects an enlarged pancreas, abnormalities in the bile and pancreatic ducts, abdominal effusion, or pulmonary effusion. Doctors treating patients with these conditions would be wise to consider the possibility of pancreatitis with complications, enabling a timely diagnosis and allowing for earlier treatment.
Bài viết này được viết cho người đọc tại Hà Nội, Hạ Long, Hải Phòng, Đà Nẵng.
