2021.01.01
The 46-year-old woman named Vilma learned about the tumor unexpectedly. “In 2012, the doctor of the Kaunas Clinic of Ear, Nose and Throat Diseases, Dr. Nora Šiupšinskienė operated my daughter due to snoring. At the same time, doctors asked why it is difficult for me to breathe through the nose. I received a referral from a family doctor and signed up for a consultation with a specific other doctor,” the woman told the story.
After the examination, it was decided to perform nasal septum surgery — septoplasty. “During the operation, the doctor noticed a tumor. After the operation, Dr. N. Šiupinskienė made a biopsy and immediately offered me to address her colleague, a skull foundation tumor surgery expert — rhinosurgeon prof. Saulius Vaitkus,” – Vilma remembered the beginning of her illness.
The woman was repeatedly subjected to taking a biopsy, she was performed magnetic resonance and computed tomography studies, and the doctors have detected a chondrosarcoma. According to Vilma, she did not feel any symptoms of the disease. “The only thing that bothered me is the headache I wrote off for stress and fatigue. I did not suspect I have had a goose egg size tumor in my head. Since then, the marathon of operations started — I have been operated on for 6 times.”
“This patient had a cancer spread to the base of the skull, covering both carotid arteries and pressing on the visual nerves, disrupting slant of the base of the skull,” explained the rhinosurgeon Prof. Saulius Vaitkus. — Endoscopically and with the help of the navigation system, we found the exact location of the tumor’s presence and spread and then proceeded to safely removed the tumor from hard-to-reach areas to which we had no access before. We also freed the arteries and optic nerves. New technologies really make the surgeon’s work easier,” the doctor continued.
According to the professor, this is a high-level surgery, which requires not only modern technologies that help to perform complex surgical interventions, but also the dexterity of the hands.
The tumor had clamped both carotid arteries, so every millimeter was extremely important. Such operations, according to prof. S. Vaitkus can only be performed in centers with a high level team of specialists: neurosurgeons, anesthesiologists, maxillofacial surgeons, radiologists, pathologoanatomists, chemotherapy and radiotherapists, intensive care specialists and, of course, nurses. The result achieved is the work of a multidisciplinary team.
According to the doctor, after the performed operations, the patient stopped having headaches, eye pains and double (blurry) vision. “Although the impairment of the mobility of one eye remains, we can be glad that we have achieved a remission of the disease,” said Prof. S. Vaitkus.
Vilma feels good at this time, but is under the supervision of doctors, and undergoes regularly conducted examinations. “I am unable to express my gratitude to the doctors and all the staff in words. A simple sincere thank you seems so small. The things that Prof. S. Vaitkus did, it is a fantastic thing. If not for him, I wouldn’t stand in front of you today. It is a honor for Lithuania, that we have such a high level of medics, thanks to which human health and life are preserved. I rarely cry, but emotions just pour out of me. Of course, the tears come from joy,” smiled the patient of Kaunas clinics.
Information of Kaunas clinics.
