Surgical team for patient T.

Letter of immense gratitude

From the beginning of 2020 up till now, there have been more than 25 emotional handwritten letters from patients or their relatives expressing their gratitude towards the leaders, medical staff of Hue Central Hospital for their special medical care.

The latest letter was dated August 19, 2020, from patient T. T. M (Da Nang) - one of the COVID-19 patients with severe underlying disease, who had just been saved by the Hue Central Hospital from COVID-19. M. is a beautiful girl. Others would easily recognize it thanks to the big bright eyes and wide forehead on her face that was half covered by facial mask.

She recovered from COVID-19, but M. continued her fight with kidney disease at another hospital in her hometown. Before leaving the Isolation Center - Hue Central Hospital base 2, M. was moved: “I don't know what to say and I can’t believe that I’m still here to say thank you to you all ... ".

M. said, “I was very disappointed and confused when I found out that I had COVID-19. When I was picked up by the car to Hue for treatment, I could not stand upright, feeling desperate. But then, just 15 minutes after arriving at Hue Central Hospital base 2, the doctors and nurses here took care of me enthusiastically and attentively.” Since then, M. was very contented and felt "like a baby being comforted by her mother".

Leaving Hue 20 days after being treated for COVID-19, M. sent back her letter written in haste with warm-hearted words: “I am really touched, moved to tears as all I can do is saying thank you to all the doctors who dedicated to treating and taking care of me. I will be forever grateful.”

Supporting COVID-19 patients to exercise.

The Hybrid landmark

For many years, the hospital has been one of the leading units in the country for the number of new techniques applied in all specialties. At the same time, there have been many breakthroughs in the fields of high-tech and specialized care such as organ transplantation, laparoscopic surgery, cancer treatment, cardiology, reproductive associates... Successful treatment of difficult cases has set a high rate in the country.

Since the end of July 2020, in parallel with the focus on prevention of COVID-19 epidemic, Hue Central Hospital still maintained the quality of medical examination and treatment. Especially the deployment of new and high-tech techniques to promptly cure patients. The first case of successful application of Hybrid surgery to treat a complicated congenital heart disease for pediatric patient Le K. T in the middle of August was a typical example.

Pediatric patient Le K. T. (8 months old, weighing 4.5 kg) was diagnosed with very large ventricular septal defect, pulmonary artery pressure was nearly equal to systemic pressure and pulmonary hypertension in addition to malnutrition and pulmonary infections. Despite being treated for underlying diseases and improving physical condition, the excessive blood flow through the ventricular septum makes the child’s heart failure worse, at the risk of irreversible lung damage to leading to Eisenmenger syndrome.

The results of ultrasound and cardiac catheterization also showed the very special and complicated position of congenital heart defects, and the very large opening, making the implementation of amplatzer septal occluder through blood vessels of the leg not feasible. In addition, the ventricular opening was very close to the apex of the heart, so it would be difficult for the cardiothoracic surgeon to close the ventricular opening.

Taking care of patients having COVID-19

With the co-chair of Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Lan Hieu - Director of Hanoi Medical University Hospital, Hue Central Hospital applied the Hybrid approach to perform complicated congenital heart surgery to save the child’s life. The value of this method, as said by Dr. Ho Anh Binh, Head of Cardiovascular Emergency - Intervention Department (Cardiovascular Center, Hue Central Hospital) was “If this method cannot be applied, there will be no chance to manage her heart failure.”

Hybrid is a new term developed in recent years, used to refer to cases that combine surgical and interventional procedure at the same time to treat a patient. Hybrid increasingly plays an important role in the treatment of complex cardiovascular diseases such as: complicated congenital heart disease, stent graft placement in severe aortic disease, trans-catheter aortic valve replacement, coronary artery disease with more branches ...

“Hybrid method used for pediatric patient T is the first time in Vietnam, because it was done by intravenous route; while, at other places, they usually performed this through arteries. The technique of intravenous administration is also considered rare worldwide due to its complexity,”, Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Lan Hieu explained.

After the successful surgery, Le K. T. continued to be cared for and treated under stable hemodynamic condition. The success of this surgery will be an important first step at Hue Central Hospital, as well as an opportunity for similar cases in the Central – Central Highlands region to continue their lives.

Dr. Ho Anh Binh shared: “We understand clearly the duties of doctors. If we cannot help patients, then we should do no harm to them, especially with new techniques. However, we would not be too cautious to miss out on the patient's chances of improving their conditions. Fortunately, the department of Cardiothoracic Surgery of Hue Central Hospital is very strong and professional, always facilitating the development of high-tech procedure. We are willing to approach new medical technologies, hoping to improve the patient's life as much as possible.”

Story: Dong Van

Photos: Provided by the hospital