A 38-year-old female patient was infected with NTM bacteria after two breast implants, the wound did not heal, and the fluid flowed for a long time.

Thanh Hoa After breast implant surgery, a 38-year-old woman continuously had fluid flowing, the wound did not heal even though the breast implants had been removed for many weeks, the doctor discovered a rare bacterial infection.

On September 1, a representative of the Central Tropical Diseases Hospital said that the woman had breast implants at a medical facility about 9 months ago. After surgery, she developed an infection and had to have her bag removed and treated for a long time.

Because she still had cosmetic needs, she continued to have her breast implants re-inserted a second time. Just over a week later, the intervention area began to drain fluid and pus. The patient returns to the surgery facility, has the bag removed, the wound is cleaned, antibiotics are used, and wound care is taken. However, the wound still did not heal and continuously exuded fluid. The prolonged condition caused the patient to go to the Central Tropical Diseases Hospital for treatment.

Doctor Nguyen Ngoc Linh, who directly treated, found that the injury had many features unlike normal surgical wound infections, with mucus secretions, gel-like, and long-lasting; The cavity where the breast implant was once still does not heal even though the artificial material has been removed for many weeks. With a history of infection after previous bag placement and unusual lesion characteristics, doctors thought of the possibility of NTM infection (Non-Tuberculous Mycobacteria - Atypical Mycobacteria). This is a rare group of bacteria that causes persistent infections and is difficult to treat after surgery or cosmetic procedures.

NTM infection can develop silently and over a long period of time, with patients only showing signs of slow wound healing, prolonged fluid leakage, abscesses or recurrent lesions. Bacteria may also not respond to antibiotics commonly used for surgical wound infections, making treatment difficult if the correct agent is not identified.

When examining the cavity where the bag had been placed, the doctors discovered there was still a small abscess, the two tissue surfaces had not yet healed. The team opens and cleans the lesion, removing inflammatory tissue. The system sucked out more than 500 ml of fluid from the damaged area, and at the same time, the doctor took specimens to identify the agent, thereby choosing an appropriate treatment plan.

Dr. Linh acknowledged that in cases of suspected or confirmed NTM infection, treatment does not stop at cleaning the wound but needs to coordinate local infection control with anti-NTM drug treatment that can last for many months.

Dr. Duong Manh Chien - Deputy Head of the Department, in charge of the Department of Plastic, Aesthetic and Interdisciplinary Surgery, recommends that people in need of cosmetic surgery, especially interventions involving the placement of implants or artificial materials, need to choose a licensed specialized medical facility with full surgical conditions, sterility, anesthesia - resuscitation and the ability to monitor and handle complications after surgery.

If the wound heals for a long time, continuously leaks fluid or pus, has an abscess, recurs many times or does not improve despite using antibiotics, the patient needs to go to a medical facility with appropriate expertise to be examined, determine the cause and receive proper treatment, instead of self-treatment or prolonged use of empirical medicine.