Surgeons at St. Nicholas Children’s Hospital of the First Medical Association in Lviv have operated on a 17-year-old patient with a dangerous hereditary disease, Recklinghausen’s disease.
Doctors removed three tumors in her leg at once, which made it increasingly difficult for her to walk.
Angelina Malysheva is from Vinnytsia. The girl has been fighting her disease since she was 4 years old. Then she was diagnosed with a severe systemic hereditary disease – Recklinghausen’s disease or neurofibromatosis type I. This disease usually manifests itself at an early age: first with “coffee spots” on the body, and then provokes the appearance and growth of multiple tumors – formations on the skin, bones and organs of the nervous system, that is, almost anywhere in the body. The biggest danger is that these benign tumors can become malignant.
Angelina was first operated on when she was 8 years old. Back then, surgeons removed several tumors in the girl’s left leg, the largest of which was as big as 15 cm. By the way, sometimes neurofibromas grow up to 30 cm, harden and feel like wood, compressing muscles and bones.
Recently, Angelina started to feel pain in her left leg again. Sometimes below the hip she could not feel her limb at all and it became more and more difficult for her to walk. The family turned to Lviv specialists at St. Nicholas Hospital for help. Oncohematologists found three tumors in Angelina’s leg at once.
To make the intervention painless and safe for the young patient, she underwent a so-called nerve block – femoral and sciatic. This was done under the control of a high-precision Stimuplex device that allows visualizing blood vessels. The tumors themselves were removed minimally invasively – through three small punctures. The intervention was successful.
The first thing Angelina did after the surgery was to go for a walk with her mother in the center of Lviv. This is one of her favorite cities. And organizing excursions and travel is her future profession, as she is currently studying tourism.