Ahmet Utku Çapkın, a 9-year-old living in Samsun, had been going to hospitals for years complaining of excessive fatigue and shortness of breath and was being treated for bronchitis or asthma. The child of Mustafa and Tuba Çapkın began to have difficulty playing and became increasingly tired. When his child became ill, Father Çapkın found his last resort by applying to the Samsun Maternity and Child Diseases Hospital Pediatric Chest Diseases Polyclinic.
Pediatric Chest Diseases Specialist Dr. Fazılcan Zirek made the diagnosis based on the bruising and bulging of the child’s fingers and the necessary tests. The lump detected in the child’s lungs was treated endovascularly (through the vein) by Samsun Education and Research Hospital Interventional Radiology Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hasan Gündoğdu and Radiology Specialist Dr. Lecturer Mirsad Yalçınkaya.
IF NOT TREATED, MENTAL PROBLEMS MAY ARISE
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hasan Gündoğdu provided information about the treatment. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Gündoğdu said about the disease, “It is really a very difficult task to both detect such a disease and refer it to the relevant center. Dr. Fazıl Can both detected the disease and referred it to the relevant center. As the interventional radiology team, we, together with Dr. Mirsad, treated our patient as soon as possible. It was an extremely good operation for us. It was the first time we successfully performed such an operation in our region and hospital. We were happy that our child would be able to play with other children in the same way from now on and his symptoms would disappear. If these patients were not treated, they would not be able to play from childhood due to low blood oxygen levels in later ages and would not be able to perform certain activities. This could also cause psychological problems in the child. In addition, the further growth of the vascular mass here could cause serious bleeding in the lungs of the patient. It could have caused bigger problems.”
”IT IS A VERY RARE DISEASE”
Pediatric Chest Diseases Specialist Fazılcan Zirek said, “Ahmet Utku, stated that he applied to the Pediatric Chest Diseases Polyclinic last month and said, ‘When he came, his complaint was bruising on his fingers and lips. He had this complaint for a long time. He also had weakness and headache. During our patient’s examination, we saw bulging in his fingers. Both this bruising, which we call cyanosis, and the clubbing in the fingers indicate a decrease in oxygen levels in our opinion. We did our tests. In our first examination, we saw the saturation as 84. We expect 93 in pediatric patients. So we did a series of tests. When we did his tests, we saw a vascular connection that normally should not exist.
Normally, after blood goes through the artery, it is cleaned and returns to the body through the vein. These are done by the capillaries, which act as filters. In our patient, there was no filter structure in this vascular connection. Therefore, the blood was going directly to the body without being cleaned. This caused low oxygen. We performed our examinations and made our diagnosis. We intervened together with the interventional radiology team. The most common intervention method in these patients is the closure of the shunt, which we call embolization. These patients are very rare. It is usually diagnosed in adults, but we can also see it in children. It can be congenital. We treated it. After the treatment, his saturation improved. Our patient’s complaints also regressed,” he said.
”BRONCHITIS AND ASTHMA WERE SAID! NO DIAGNOSIS WAS MADE”
After seeing her son moving tirelessly after the surgery, mother Tuba Çapkın said, “We have been to many different hospitals and doctors for years. They said it was bronchitis and asthma. No diagnosis was made. Afterwards, there was teamwork. I see that my son has not been tired for the first time in a few days. His appetite has also returned. Everything is fine now,” and expressed her happiness. (İHA)
