Chinese doctors perform life-changing surgery on Madagascan patient

Chinese doctors from the 23rd medical team to aid Madagascar successfully removed a giant thyroid tumor from a female patient at a hospital in Sambava despite surgery difficulties.

Before coming to doctor Qiang Yaosheng's office, the 53-year-old patient's tumor had been growing on her neck for over 15 years, and the continuous growth had caused hoarseness of voice and difficulty in tilting her head back. The patient also had shortness of breath.

Qiang, deputy chief physician of the Department of General Surgery at the First Hospital of Lanzhou University, contacted Li Guangcheng, an otolaryngologist in Madagascar, for discussion.

They confirmed that the tumor had affected the recurrent laryngeal nerve, causing paralysis of the right vocal cord. However, due to the patient's long-standing non-physiological neck bending, performing the surgery in the traditional supine position was impossible. The surgery would be complicated and risky.

On Aug 23, they decided to do the surgery as all her examination indicators met the requirements. However, intubation under general anesthesia was extremely difficult due to a lack of complete anesthesia equipment and the large size of the tumor.

Instead, they used cervical plexus anesthesia. They completely removed the right thyroid gland and the tumor, and the surgery proceeded smoothly without complications.

The patient, accompanied by her husband, recently visited the medical team to express her gratitude.