American patient undergoes successful spinal tumor surgery in Vietnam

The hospital on Wednesday announced that its Neurosurgery Department, in collaboration with the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care, had managed to operate on the 37-year-old foreigner.

The procedure was particularly complex because the tumor was located inside the spinal canal and the patient had class III obesity, local media reported.

The patient was admitted to hospital with lower back pain, numbness and weakness in both legs, and difficulty walking.

Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a three-centimeter intradural extramedullary tumor at the L2 lumbar vertebra, closely associated with nerve roots in the conus medullaris and cauda equina region.

Dr. Le Quang Huy of the hospital’s Neurosurgery Department said the patient’s physical condition presented a major challenge for the surgical team.

Standing 1.95 meters tall and weighing 165kg, the patient had a body mass index (BMI) of 43.3 kg/m².

His condition significantly increased the complexity of the procedure, from positioning him on the operating table and administering anesthesia to managing his airway and minimizing perioperative complications.

Using intraoperative neurophysiological monitoring and an operating microscope, the surgical team successfully removed the entire tumor in three hours.

Maximum preservation of all nerve root functions was achieved.

Following surgery, the patient experienced no new neurological deficits and was able to stand up and walk independently just two days later.

“After the surgery, I feel very well,” said the patient, named Trent Stephen Rogers.

The pain has completely disappeared, and his quality of life has returned to what it was before, Da Nang newspaper reported, citing the patient.

Rogers was quoted as saying that he could sleep, walk, stand up on his own and take care of the things he needed to do in everyday life.

He praised the doctors and nurses at the hospital, saying they were wonderful.

In the United States, out-of-pocket expenses for a comparable spinal tumor microsurgery procedure can range from US$35,000 to $60,000.

By comparison, the total actual treatment cost for this patient at Da Nang Hospital was only around VND20-30 million ($777-1,165).

In recent years, Da Nang Hospital has expanded its application of advanced medical techniques to diagnosis and treatment, particularly in liver, bone marrow, stem cell and kidney transplantation, and minimally invasive surgery.

For international patients, however, clinical expertise is not the only consideration.

Service quality and convenience throughout the medical examination and treatment process are also important factors.