FROM A HARMLESS LUMP ON THE NECK TO HOPE FOR RECOVERY: HOW DOCTORS AT THE NMRRC HELPED SAVE THE LIFE OF A PATIENT FROM DONBASS

A year ago, Anatoly Valentinovich, a patient of the National Medical Research Oncological Centre of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, began to feel a small lump on his neck. A little later, the area became numb, and he went to an ENT doctor at his place of residence. He underwent a biopsy of the neoplasm at the Mariupol Intensive Care Hospital. Morphologic study allowed to suspect at once squamous cell cancer of the right palatine tonsil. Malignant tumors of the head and neck require great skill and experience from specialists, since the areas of lesions are located near vital organs.

The patient was referred to NMRRC, which is assigned to this region, for further examination and treatment.

A comprehensive analysis of the patient’s condition, including endoscopic examination of the submandibular region, revealed a group of lymph nodes affected by metastases of malignant neoplasm. In addition, the man from Donbass had hypertension, which also complicated the task of doctors. After a detailed discussion at the oncology Consilium, he was offered treatment with one of the high-tech methods of regional induction therapy.

“With the help of selective chemoembolization of the affected vessels, we were able to bring the necessary drug extremely close to the tumor, explains the head of the department of radiosurgical methods of diagnosis and treatment of the P. Hertsen MORI – MD Andrey Rerberg. Our patient’s body responded well to the proposed treatment, thanks to which we achieved complete destruction of the primary tumor of the right tonsil, and the metastases in the lymph nodes were significantly reduced”.

Today, Anatoly Valentinovich came for a checkup and consultation with the chemotherapists to determine a plan for further treatment.

“We are so happy to have come to your institute,” Anatoly Valentinovich’s wife spoke ahead of our questions. With such attention and, most importantly, with such a good result already now: we did not expect! Thank you very much to the doctors and everyone who is dealing with us,” she adds, looking lovingly at her husband.

Although the road to recovery is not yet complete, the family believes in the success of the radical chemoradiotherapy program: weekly drug treatment through a port-system for 7 weeks and 35 sessions of ionizing radiation. The task is not easy, but feasible! And in this the specialists of the National Medical Research Oncological Centre of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation have no doubts.