In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, saving the life of an elderly U80 with 2 dangerous cancers

This is an automatically translated article.

In the context of the distance and restriction of many activities to prevent the COVID-19 epidemic, Vinmec Hospital's doctors made every effort to save the life of an elderly woman, suffering from many background diseases and 2 types of cancer, completely. physical exhaustion and mental breakdown. The success in treating this particular case could open up a very promising treatment for the elderly group of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in Vietnam, who are currently quite limited in treatment.

1. Saving the life of an elderly U80 with 2 serious diseases

After more than 1 month of receiving special care and treatment with a regimen with new-generation special drugs for acute myeloid leukemia at Vinmec Hospital, 75-year-old Pham Sy Hung has just been discharged at the end of the day. last August.
Acute myeloid leukemia is a type of aggressive malignant blood cancer, requiring the use of very strong chemotherapy, so the elderly or people with many underlying medical conditions, are weak, cannot tolerate strong chemicals, so Treatment options are very limited. In people over 70 years old in Vietnam today, usually only blood transfusion and supportive care drugs to temporarily control when the white blood cell count is too high, usually, the patient's prognosis is only a few months. Therefore, the reversal of this malignant disease for Mr. Hung is a miracle.
“When I come home, I may not be recognized anymore, because I have changed a lot after more than 1 month”....“Last night I slept well, ate 70% already, went to the toilet by myself. I was able to give birth, using less crutches because my legs are fine”....A conversation between Mr. Hung and Dr. Yi - who closely followed and treated him for acute myeloid leukemia at Vinmec Hospital, at the time of his death. Vietnamese, sometimes in English before he was discharged from the hospital very happily. The doctors have not only brought him back from the dead, but also helped him regain the much-needed optimism in his life and family during the current distance.

2. Active treatment for people with acute myeloid leukemia (AML)

Over the past year, he has had to fight with two terrible cancers, in 2020, prostate cancer. Having just controlled the disease stably, in mid-2021 he was found to have acute myeloid leukemia.
“Discovered, my legs collapsed, I had to use a wheelchair. I was very pessimistic, because of old age, weak health, let go, didn't want to be treated." That concern made his health plummet, after 1 month, he was exhausted, lost 20kg of severe anemia, sepsis and septic shock, thrush in the mouth, throat and esophagus, unable to eat because of the pain.
“My son has found a new treatment at Vinmec Hospital” The first five days of his admission, Mr. Hung received special care at the Emergency Department to deal with what can be said to be very critical "shock". infection - hospital-acquired pneumonia - bacteremia - fungal infection of the mouth, throat and esophagus - acute myeloid Leukemia/Prostate cancer" - TS.BS Nguyen Dang Tuan - Head of Organ Transplant Resuscitation and Surgery Unit, Vinmec Times City Hospital said:
With the close coordination of the treatment team, it was like a race against time. After the critical illness, Mr. Hung was transferred to specialized oncology treatment. Assoc Prof. TS.BS Yi Hyeon Gyu - Head of Oncology and Hematology Department, Vinmec Times City Hospital - a Korean expert in blood cancer and solid tumors and Master, Resident Doctor Phan Truc, Doctor graduated excellent, second runner-up from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Ho Chi Minh City, currently working at Vinmec Times City Hospital.
Dr. Phan Truc said, “Acute myeloid leukemia is a type of blood cancer with the leading malignancy in cancer diseases, requiring the use of very strong chemotherapy to control, however, on the elderly or those with many underlying medical conditions, weak physical condition, intolerant of strong chemicals, so the treatment options at this time are much limited. In Vietnam, usually patients with acute myeloid leukemia over 60 years old and have comorbidities, most of them will be treated with strength-reducing drugs such as low-dose cytarabine, demethylation drugs (Azacitidine, Decitabine), which help prevent block the temporary growth of cancer cells but it is difficult to reverse the disease... but in this patient's age group older than 70 years, usually only blood products to support hospice care and hydrea are used to control Temporarily control if white blood cells are too high. The prognosis is only a few weeks to a few months.”
“The use of this regimen is quite complicated because the interactions between drugs are very serious, not to mention in the background of severe disease, we have refined a lot, after 15 days of adding Venetoclax, it is very surprising that The patient had a complete response, no malignancies remained in the bone marrow, and his blood count recovered to normal. This success surprised the doctors who treated it," - Assoc.
"I hope Venetoclax will soon be available in the Vietnamese market and we will also share with colleagues our experience in using the treatment regimen for this AML case in this elderly patient on scientific articles" – BS Yi said.

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