10 years of preparing new surgical techniques
In March 2019, Associate Professor, Dr. Dong Van He, Deputy Director of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, received a special case of brain tumor. The man, born in 1965, from Quang Binh, often had headaches, numbness and weakness in his hands. After examination, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, a 2x3 cm tumor located in a position that affected motor function.
At this time, listening to Associate Professor He discuss the new surgical method - awake brain surgery, the man agreed to put all his trust in the expertise of Vietnamese doctors. Awake brain surgery is a method performed on the brain while the patient is still awake and conscious. This technique allows the doctor to monitor important functions during surgery, control the surgical operation, avoid damaging the nerve fiber bundles and healthy brain tissue around the lesion, helping to preserve maximum neurological function for the patient.
The surgery lasted for 3 hours, the doctor removed the entire brain tumor from the patient. What was special was that during the surgery, the patient talked and moved his arms and legs according to the doctor's request. He also sang the song "Quang Binh, my hometown" for the doctor to listen to. After the surgery, the patient was awake, in stable health, with no sequelae, especially his hands were no longer numb.
Not only this time, Associate Professor, Dr. Dong Van He and his colleagues have performed many successful awake brain surgeries. To do that, he and his colleagues spent 10 years researching and preparing from expertise to technical equipment. He is also the one who "paved the way" to bring awake brain surgery techniques to Vietnam, giving many patients a chance to live.
Associate Professor, Dr. Dong Van He (born in 1966, from Lien Hoa commune, Kim Thanh, Hai Duong). His childhood was haunted by witnessing his mother fighting every day with chronic lung disease. After finishing high school, with the encouragement of his family, he took the entrance exam to Hanoi Medical University. In 1989-1990, he was the valedictorian of the residency exam and became the name mentioned by many lecturers at the school as a shining example for generations of students to follow.
After graduating, he went to France to study. During his time abroad, he learned about the awake brain surgery method. Returning to Vietnam to work at the Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, he brought with him the dream of awake brain surgery for domestic patients.
“I have always had a plan to perform awake brain surgery on patients in my country, both to develop the technique and to bring them a better life,” Associate Professor He said.
During his many years working at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, Dr. He repeatedly contacted and invited European experts to perform demonstration surgeries. However, both invitations were unsuccessful. Once, while attending the Asian Neurosurgery Conference, he met a Japanese professor presenting a lecture on awake brain surgery. It was exactly the technique he had been nurturing, so he listened attentively to understand it more deeply.
After that, Associate Professor, Dr. He and the doctors of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital "packed up" and went to Japan to study. Japanese experts also came to Vietnam three times. The first time, a Japanese expert came, he only visited the hospital facilities, equipment and operating room instruments. The second time, the group of experts continued to survey the operating room facilities. It was not until the third time they came to Vietnam that they started performing demonstration surgeries.
Up to now, from a new and difficult technique, Associate Professor, Dr. Dong Van He and the doctors of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital have mastered the technique, successfully performing over 40 cases of complex brain tumors. All patients have recovered well, without sequelae. This is an impressive result, opening up great prospects, contributing to the overall success in the field of neurosurgery of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital.
Associate Professor, Dr. Dong Van He during a brain tumor surgery. (Photo: BSCC)
19 hour surgery
Three years ago, during a neurosurgery, Associate Professor, Dr. Dong Van He and his team stood for 19 hours straight to remove a brain tumor from a 36-year-old female patient from Thai Binh. This was also the longest surgery of his career.
The female patient had headaches and poor mobility. Upon examination, a meningioma was discovered in the base of the skull. Without surgery, the patient would die or have lifelong sequelae.
“Imagine the nerve as a bamboo root, the tumor as a lump of soil in the middle of the bamboo root. To remove the lump of soil while preserving the root requires meticulousness. Not to mention, the skull area is very thick, doctors have to drill, grind, and spend 2 hours to reach the tumor,” said Dr. He. If not careful, the patient can die and suffer lifelong consequences.
Having traveled to many places and known many colleagues around the world, Associate Professor, Dr. He often invites foreign experts to Vietnam to participate in difficult surgeries. Those times are broadcast live outside the operating room for many other doctors and nurses to learn.
He was most impressed with the surgery for a child admitted to the hospital on June 3, 2017 with an internal carotid artery aneurysm measuring 10 x 12 cm, while more than 1.5 cm is considered large and more than 2.5 cm is giant.
This is a rare case in medicine. To save the child, Associate Professor He invited Professor Kasumi Takizawa, Director of the Neurosurgery Center of Red Cross Asakikawa Hospital (Japan), a leading expert in neurovascular surgery, to perform the surgery.
On June 8, 2017, the surgical team of 6 people led by Associate Professor, Dr. Dong Van He and Professor Kasumi Takizawa directly performed the surgery. The complicated surgery lasted more than 12 hours.
“During the long surgery, the doctors often took turns going out to have a light meal and change their surgical clothes to ensure sterility. After the surgery ended, almost everyone was exhausted,” Associate Professor He said. The surgery was successful. The patient’s health improved well.
To date, Associate Professor He and his colleagues have successfully performed awake brain surgery on 40 cases. (Photo: BSCC)
Vietnamese doctors have world-class qualifications
According to Associate Professor, Dr. Dong Van He, Vietnamese medicine is not inferior to foreign medicine, and can perform many difficult techniques, even other countries have to learn. However, some people do not have faith in domestic medicine, as shown by the fact that every year tens of thousands of patients still go abroad for treatment.
This not only causes the country to lose a large source of foreign currency, but also loses the opportunity to improve the skills and reputation of the Vietnamese medical sector. "At our center, every year we record dozens of cases of people who have been treated abroad but then return here to seek help," Associate Professor He said.
Not all patients who go abroad for treatment receive good results. Many patients return home with “lost money and health”.
Associate Professor He recounted a patient who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in March 2023, went to a private clinic for examination, and then his family took him abroad for treatment. As a result, the patient was given radiosurgery that cost 500 million VND. “This is a “ridiculous” treatment method, both expensive and not indicated,” Associate Professor He said.
Some other cases also suffered from brain diseases, and went abroad for surgery using the traditional method, without endoscopy like at Viet Duc Hospital. This person had surgery abroad and was left deaf and with a crooked mouth, spending about 2 billion VND.
In terms of expertise and surgical techniques, Vietnamese doctors are not inferior to anyone, any country, we are just not as good as them in terms of material conditions.
Assoc.Prof.Dr. Dong Van He
Vietnamese doctors are not inferior to Thai or Singaporean doctors. Many of our doctors are even more experienced and talented than foreign doctors. The evidence is that the number of foreign patients coming to Vietnam for medical examination is increasing, and the number of foreign doctors and medical staff coming to Vietnam for professional training and experience is increasing.
"Perhaps it's just that the health sector hasn't communicated well, hasn't done a good job of guiding patients to the right place, asking the right doctor, and getting to the right place," Associate Professor He expressed.
To retain Vietnamese people in the country for medical treatment and attract foreigners to come to work as doctors, more solutions are needed, in which improving professional quality and medical ethics is the most important. Medical facilities need to organize reception and care in a professional manner, and implement changes in attitudes and behavior, aiming at patient satisfaction.
Medical facilities need to constantly update regulations so that diagnostic protocols, new drugs, and modern biological chemicals can soon be included in the treatment regimen of patients. If we do a good job of improving services, building procedures, and communicating about patient care, then people in need will certainly seek out domestic medical facilities for medical examination and treatment, and then our medical system will become increasingly stronger.
In addition, training the next generation to continue and develop modern techniques is also something that medical facilities need to focus on promoting. The associate professor hopes that the next generations will be better than his generation, and will have breakthrough scientific research projects to contribute to the development of the country's medicine.
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