An image of the tumours. — Photo from Vietnam-Sweden Hospital

The patient was diagnosed with both pulmonary squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma.

This case is considered medically rare not only in Vietnam but also in the world.

Usually, tumours found on the same lung lobe are of the same nature, but in this patient, the tumours have grown independently of two different types of cancer, according to doctors at the hospital.

The patient was born in 1943 with a history of abdominal aortic replacement surgery to treat abdominal aortic aneurysm and surgeries to remove left ureteral stone and remove abdominal wall hernia.

About a month before being admitted to the hospital, the patient felt tired, lost weight, coughed up some blood, felt chest tightness, and experienced shortness of breath.

After a lung CT scan, doctors discovered a lobe tumour in the left lung close to the aortic loop.

The biopsy results showed the tumour was adenocarcinoma. The patient was prescribed surgery to remove the left lung lobe by the VAT method (video supportive surgery) combined with laparoscopic surgery and open surgery.

During the operation, the doctors found another tumour in the lung and cut off all left lung lobe.

The result of the pathology found the two tumours were two different types of cancers.

After the surgery, the patient continued to be treated with chemotherapy and target cell radiation therapy, said doctor Nguyen Duc Hoanh, head of Department of Cardiac and Thoracic Intervention and Surgery.

This was the best treatment method for this case, he added.  VNS

Cancer the second leading cause of death in Vietnam

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in Vietnam, accounting for 17.9 per cent and 19.9 per cent of total deaths caused by diseases in the country in 2010 and 2017 respectively.

Cancer claims 115,000 lives in Vietnam a year

Vietnam is one of the countries with a high proportion of cancer patients.