‘Thanks to SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital, my son's tongue was saved after he had a tumor’

Lihuén was almost two years old when he playfully stuck out his tongue at his parents and they saw a strange growth. After consulting various specialists, they visited Argentina's leading pediatric oncology facility, where they performed a biopsy and diagnosed the boy with a lingual sarcoma, a rare type of cancer that forms in the mouth.

Doctors examining Lihuén in Argentina explained that the tumor was on his tongue and that it was removable through surgery. Doing so, however, would involve completely removing Lihuén's tongue. Without his tongue, the young boy would have needed a gastric button to eat, a tracheostomy to breathe and he would have lost his ability to speak.

While Lihuén started treatment in his home country, his family began researching hospitals around the world that performed tongue reconstructions, they consulted maxillofacial surgery specialists in Barcelona and in the United States. One of those specialists was Dr Josep Rubio, Head of the Maxillofacial Surgery Unit at SJD Barcelona Children's Hospital. He assessed the case, and suspected it would be possible to remove the tumor while preserving part of the patient's tongue. ‘The surgical team at our hospital said that if there was anyone in the world that could successfully perform this operation, it would be Dr Josep Rubio. That, and speaking the same language, made us decide to come to Barcelona’, says the mother.

The operation at SJD

On arriving at SJD Barcelona Children’s Hospital, the staff treating Lihuén decided to perform some tests and prescribe a targeted treatment that would impair the tumor's ability to create blood vessels and continue growing, thereby making the surgical procedure simpler. When they suspected that the jaw was involved, the operation was brought forward.

‘As well as removing what had spread to his jaw, we removed the tumor, which took up 80% of his tongue. We then performed a reconstruction on the remaining tissue using a flap to turn it into a functional tongue that would allow the child to breathe and swallow properly. We did it without accessing the jaw, all within the oral cavity, because despite this approach being more complex, it is also less aggressive, and the boy would recover faster’, explains Dr Rubio.

In subsequent imaging studies, there were no signs of tumor remnants or signs of relapse. Now, Lihuén can already speak well, he will be able to eat normally again and he will have the same quality of life as any other boy his age. While he currently has to eat some food through a tube and has only just started eating oral food again, Lihuén is attending an intensive rehabilitation program with a psycho-speech therapist to strengthen his tongue, so he can move it normally and improve his speech and swallowing abilities. Lihuén’s mother tells us that ‘now he’s excitedly saving his biscuits, chocolates and things he likes for when he can eat again.’

The father remembers Lihuén’s diagnosis, saying it was the worst news he had received in his entire life. ‘It may seem strange that we enjoy coming to the Hospital now, but it's because here they gave us the biggest gift of all—they gave my son his life back.’