“NORMAL WALKING WITHOUT CRUTCHES IS AN AMAZING FEELING”

Mr. Luigi Fedele now has one more reason to feel satisfied with his decision to live and work in Vietnam. In Danang, the pain and persecution caused by his prolonged spinal disc herniation have been relieved completely, thanks to the appropriate therapy, timely surgery.

“I'm on the road to recovery. Walking without crutches is an amazing feeling”. - these words in a letter from Mr. Luigi Fedele (70 y/o, American) on January 2 ^nd 2018 really made Dr. Le Nghiem Bao’s day (Dr. Bao is the Head of General Surgery Department, Vinmec Danang International General Hospital).

Just only one week ago, this American patient had had walking difficulties. He had been suffering from persistent back pain, which radiated to his left leg for many months. Even after receiving medical treatment plus chiropractic care for his spine in the USA, limited improvement recorded.

At Vinmec Danang International General Hospital, his specialized consultation with Dr. Bao revealed L4-L5 disc herniation. Mr. Luigi’s clinical regimen started with Rehabilitation treatment, in combination with taking analgesic, muscle relaxants, and anti-inflammatory medication. After 20 days of treatment, based on his several years of experiences of surgical neurological- spinal diseases, Dr. Bao concluded that it was the right moment to undergo the surgery.

“Without surgery, the pains would be prolonged. Spinal disc herniation would be potentially enlarged, causing right sided L5 nerve paralysis, leading to foot drop (motor impairment, in which the patient has difficulty to lift up the front part of his foot, so that the toes would clear the ground), or placing pressure on the cauda equina, causing severe complications such as uncontrolled urination and defecation or paraplegia,” Dr. Bao said.
With the modern MRI 3.0 scanner’s support, small injuries in vertebral conjugation hole, usually undetectable, were spotted. Hypertension and the overweight physical condition of Mr. Luigi were completely under the control based on the pre-operative subclinical tests and medical treatments

After physical therapies and disease progression observation,

Dr. Le Nghiem Bao assigned that the surgery had to be undergone immediately to avoid any potential complications.

The surgery took place on December 27 ^th 2017, when Mr. Fedele was in the most stable condition. With a 5cm incision, Dr. Bao, with the anesthesiologist and his team, removed completely the herniated disc of right L5 nerve, preventing all complications. With the lumbar spine kits, the new model of C-arm optic illuminator helped control better the injured region so that the surgery took place with precision and safety.

Postoperative day one, the patient was encouraged to sit up and had gently movements. He was fit to be discharged only after 3 days, with normal movements recorded and his pain was relieved totally without taking analgesic.

When the year 2017 came to its last days, Mr. Luigi’s prolonged pain and discomfort also came to an end. That was probably one of the things he was most pleased to look back on a year ago. “I'm grateful to have met such an amazing doctor. His and his team's expertise and professionalism made me very comfortable before and after the surgery. The doctors and nurses at the inpatient ward were very kind, professional, they always appear with smiles on their faces,” he told us.