“At the age of 27 It’s very scary to hear that you have tongue cancer and may not be able to speak…”

The heroine of our story today was only 27 years old when she learned that she was faced with a terrible disease: a malignant tumor of the tongue.

“Not long ago my tooth chipped. He started rubbing my tongue, so I made an appointment with a surgeon. After the tooth was removed, I hoped that the wound would heal. However, as time passed and nothing changed, the pain began to intensify. I visited many dentists, but only one doctor advised me to see an oncologist – then I heard a phrase that is scary to hear at the age of 27: “You have tongue cancer.”

Fear for her own life settled in Nastya’s soul. Mom had heard a lot about the A. Tsyb MRRC –   branch of the Federal State Budgetary Institution of the “National Medical Research Radiological Centre” of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation and made an appointment for her daughter:

“It was probably fate. Registration for the near future was full, but there was only one window! I really liked the doctors, they explained everything so clearly that my fears had gone away. I realized that I can trust these specialists, I’m scared at all”.

Four surgeons worked on Anastasia at once: two of them, including Vyacheslav Polkin (head of the department of radiation and surgical treatment of diseases of the head and neck of the A. Tsyb MRRC) and Ramazan Salpagarov (second year resident, assistant) performed a hemiglossectomy (the patient had half of her tongue removed) and lymph node dissection (lymph nodes in the neck were removed). It is performed if the lymph nodes are affected or, as in our case, the degree of tumor invasion is more than 4 mm. Practice shows that with such a germination rate, micrometastases, that are not visible in studies, are often detected.

At the same time, Ernest Akki and Pavel Spirin (oncologists, surgeons in the department of Vyacheslav Viktorovich) harvested a flap from the left arm. Later, Vyacheslav Viktorovich and Ernest Dilyaverovich began preparing vessels on the neck and flap. The work takes place under a microscope at high magnification. The vessels of the flap are sutured to the vessels of the neck – 1 artery and 2 veins are sutured so that the flap is supplied with blood. Further, a new neo-tongue is formed from it.

Previously, patients faced with malignant tumors of the tongue simply had the affected part removed. There was no talk of restoring the organ. Now we can talk about a completely different quality of life for our patients. Of course, this is a long and painstaking work, because doctors manually form the missing part of the tongue, it requires patience and great deal of skill.

“You know, I worked a lot until that time. I wanted to put all my strength into my small business. Work, work, few days off, few vacations. Now I want to devote more time to my family, I want children. It turns out that we don’t have much time for it all. This disease has brought us together very much!”

Now Anastasia is undergoing radiation therapy, because histological examination showed that micrometastases were in the removed lymph nodes. Next is the rehabilitation process and work with a speech therapist. However, seeing her now, smiling and recovered after the operation, there is no doubt that this is the beginning of her recovery and new life!