"Welcome to your new home Tam Anh HCMC"
Recounting to Thanh Nien reporter, Dr. To Vu Thien Huong clearly remembers the task assigned at 10:00 a.m. on May 18, 2023. That was to follow the ambulance, carrying the "incubator spaceship" to a hospital to pick up a premature baby born at 26 weeks, weighing 800 grams and being resuscitated to the Neonatal Center of Tam Anh General Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City for treatment according to the family's wishes. On the car, there were also 3 nurses, 2 technicians taking turns checking the high-end incubator for extremely premature babies, ventilator, suction machine, transcutaneous oxygen concentration monitor, medicine, tools... The ambulance siren blared through the "forest of cars", in the anxiety of the whole team. This was not the first time the team had gone to pick up premature and extremely premature babies to the hospital for treatment. Each trip was under pressure to pick up the baby as quickly as possible to ensure the health of the baby.
The moment Dr. Cam Ngoc Phuong announced that Mr. Phuoc and Ms. Huong's daughter was healthy and eligible for discharge from the hospital.
"The patient's condition is stable, oxygen saturation is within normal limits. Welcome to your new home, Tam Anh General Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City", Dr. Huong welcomed and encouraged the patient, while signaling the driver to quickly depart for "Tam Anh's home".
The patient is the precious child of Vu Tran Thien Huong and Vu Duy Phuoc (33 years old, living in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City) through in vitro fertilization after 5 years of infertility. The joy was not yet complete, Ms. Huong suffered from high blood pressure, was diagnosed with preeclampsia, premature placental abruption and had to undergo an emergency cesarean section at 26 weeks and 5 days.
After birth, the baby was cyanotic and unable to breathe on his own. He was given a resuscitation balloon and was dependent on a ventilator. He did not gain weight after more than 20 days of intensive care. The public hospital was crowded with pediatric patients and had to share an incubator. The baby was cross-infected and had severe pneumonia. He had to be intubated and put on a ventilator. His prognosis was poor.
A car with a modern incubator, ventilator and team of doctors to pick up a very premature baby with a medical condition to Tam Anh General Hospital for treatment.
After researching information, understanding the difficulties in terms of conditions, child care facilities and current hospital overload, Mr. Phuoc sought out Dr. Cam Ngoc Phuong, Director of the Neonatal Center at Tam Anh General Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, with the hope of keeping his child alive...
Upon arrival at the Neonatal Center of Tam Anh General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, the patient received 24/7 special care with the coordination of examination, consultation, and treatment under the control of many specialties: congenital heart disease, pediatric surgery, respiratory... The patient was supported with breathing by a modern ventilator specialized for premature newborns, and was given nutrition through an intravenous line. After two days of intensive care, the patient was weaned from endotracheal intubation, switched to non-invasive ventilation with a modern ventilator, and used specific drugs to treat pneumonia. The baby was also comprehensively assessed and screened for other congenital or acquired pathological risks such as anemia, jaundice, retinopathy...
After 2 months, from a body weighing only 800 grams, gasping for breath, with severe pneumonia, the baby girl was "revived", healthy, developing well, breathing air completely on her own. She was able to breastfeed herself, and her weight increased to 2.3 kg.
The healthy patient was discharged from the hospital to return home with his family after nearly 3 months of treatment. This is also the 100th patient, with a serious prognosis, successfully treated by the Neonatal Center of Tam Anh General Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City.
"When my daughter was in critical condition, my wife also had complications after giving birth, fell into a deep coma, and was then hospitalized for intestinal torsion surgery. After experiencing the moment when my wife and child were on the brink of life and death, I decided that no matter how difficult it was, I had to find a hospital with good conditions, good doctors, and modern equipment to entrust my wife and child's lives to," Mr. Phuoc emotionally shared.
Applying the "golden hour" to save extremely premature babies
To save premature and extremely premature babies born at 22-25 weeks, Tam Anh General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City has built a large neonatal center, not only in the South, but also aiming to become a high-tech medical examination and treatment center comparable to the region and the world. The major, humane goal of the neonatal center is to resuscitate and support premature and extremely premature babies; especially specialized cases, many diseases, requiring special care and coordination of many specialties. This mission is placed on the shoulders of
Dr. Cam Ngoc Phuong - the pioneer who brought the golden hour protocol to save extremely premature babies to Vietnam and has saved hundreds of premature babies with complex medical conditions from the brink of death.
Dr. Cam Ngoc Phuong is also the first expert in Vietnam to apply the NO (Nitric oxide) breathing technique to treat severe respiratory failure due to pulmonary hypertension in newborns. Previously, most newborns in this situation were treated with oxygen and mechanical ventilation, and the mortality rate was very high. Tam Anh General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City is the only private hospital in Vietnam to apply this difficult technique in treatment.
To date, the Neonatal Center of Tam Anh General Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City has a scale of 50 resuscitation beds for premature and extremely premature infants. The Neonatal Center has invested in an incubator system imported from the US and the world's leading modern heating beds. Along with that is the Neopuff system for resuscitation of premature infants to help control oxygen levels, and the latest generation of high-end Drager ventilators imported from Germany, specialized for newborns.
In addition, when a child has a problem with cerebral anemia or local hypoxia, the center is also ready with an active hypothermia system to minimize the risk of brain complications for children who asphyxiate at birth... The neonatal center also invests in a specialized transfer vehicle for newborns, ready to take children to Tam Anh for treatment.
With the strength of a general hospital with many key specialties, Tam Anh Neonatal Center is designed to be located next to the Obstetrics and Gynecology Center and the Cardiovascular Center - this is the key facility to effectively apply the "golden minute" protocol for premature and extremely premature infants.
According to Dr. Cam Ngoc Phuong, when obstetricians predict a case of premature or extremely premature birth, the obstetrics - neonatology and congenital heart disease, neonatal resuscitation team... will conduct an interdisciplinary consultation, from which the most appropriate treatment regimen for each case will be determined. The obstetrician will give the pregnant woman medication to protect the brain and lungs of the fetus at birth. The Neonatal team is on duty in the delivery room with full specialized equipment. The newborn's umbilical cord is clamped 30 - 60 seconds later to maximize the amount of blood transferred from the mother, and emergency resuscitation is performed immediately, right on the mother's belly within 60 minutes after the baby is born.
"The golden time to approach and provide emergency treatment for extremely premature babies right after birth is very important, because if emergency treatment is done properly, the baby will have the opportunity to live a normal life as a child, minimizing complications and unfortunate sequelae. We always keep in mind that we must bring the babies out of the incubator, the intensive care bed, and back to their families as safely and healthily as possible," Dr. Cam Ngoc Phuong confided.
There are children who were brought home, the doctors predicted that they only had about 5 - 10% chance of survival. However, thanks to the support of the new ventilator system, modern equipment, and experienced medical team, up to this point, all of them have been saved and are healthy.
CUTE NAMES
There are premature and extremely premature babies saved at Tam Anh Neonatal Center that the medical team here cannot forget because of their cute names and "fairy tales", such as baby Bong "hydrocephalus - neonatal infection - fungemia - pneumonia - ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) - extremely premature"; Messi "born 25 weeks premature, severe pneumonia, low SpO2 index, 5 - 10% chance of survival"; Baby Na "hyaloid disease (Respiratory distress syndrome in preterm infants - RDS), intraventricular hemorrhage, neonatal infection, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP)"...
Source link
Comment (0)