Fetal heart intervention was honored as a Vietnamese medical achievement

The transuterine cardiac catheterization technique to save the life of a fetus with severe heart defects performed by Children's Team 1 and Tu Du Hospital was honored as one of 12 Vietnamese medical achievements in 2023.

The award was awarded by the Department of Health of Ho Chi Minh City in coordination with the People's Voice of Ho Chi Minh City, on the night of February 26, on the occasion of the 69th anniversary of Vietnamese Doctors' Day. This is the 4th consecutive year, Vietnam Medical Achievement honors advanced, modern medical projects, technical applications, and high technology of doctors in health care and treatment of people. .

Sharing at the honor ceremony, Dr. Do Nguyen Tin, Head of the Cardiovascular Intervention Unit, Children's Hospital 1, said that the team has worked together for a long time to achieve success. hey, because this is a complicated technique.

According to Dr. Trinh Nhut Thu Huong, Head of the Antenatal Care Department, Tu Du Hospital, he prepared more than a year ago with "fierce" and determination to implement the new technique, and was about to perform the first case. , the team faced many worries.

"I'm worried because I don't have a legal framework to protect me. I'm worried because I don't know if I will succeed or fail because the technology is too new. If I have an accident, what will I do?" said Dr. Huong.

There were times when the fetus's health got worse and worse. It was the pregnant woman's trust that helped the team become more motivated and determined to succeed. The moment Dr. Tin dilated the heart valve, the whole team burst into tears. Then there are the stages where the pregnant woman reaches the end of her pregnancy, the baby cries and is discharged from the hospital healthy, and the doctors and nurses experience many happy emotions.

Doctors at Tu Du and Children's 1 hospitals in the first fetal heart intervention. (Photo: Provided by the hospital).

This work is specially qualified to compete for the Vietnam Medical Achievement Award 2023 , because it was first implemented in Vietnam , taking place in January 2024 . To date, the two hospital teams have consecutively performed the first two fetal heart interventions in Vietnam as well as in Southeast Asia. It is expected that the third case will be deployed later this month. This technique requires a lot of doctor's skills and is currently only performed in a few places in the world.

This year, a number of other projects were honored such as the 30-year journey to reduce tetanus mortality rate (Hospital for Tropical Diseases), Speech therapy to restore communication after stroke (An Binh Hospital), Fertility preservation surgery in cervical cancer (Ho Chi Minh City Oncology Hospital), Intervention of vascular malformations using alcohol injection (Gia Dinh People's Hospital), Neurophysiology Center for Magnetic Care stroke to depression (Military Hospital 175), Surgery to treat otosclerosis (Ho Chi Minh City Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital), Reducing the risk of intubation and treatment costs in very premature infants with golden hour regimen (Tam Anh General Hospital).

Representatives of 12 hospitals whose works were honored at the Vietnam Medical Achievement Awards 2023. (Photo: VOH).

Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Duong Anh Duc said that these achievements have contributed to improving the quality of specialized medical care, building an advanced and modern Ho Chi Minh City medical system, aiming to be a care center. health in the ASEAN region.

According to Mr. Duc, the award not only gives more encouragement to doctors with medical innovations but is also a deep gratitude from society to the white coat team. Doctors and doctors are working every day, every hour, anytime, anywhere, not only fighting for life in the moment of life and death, but also helping each person have more days to overcome illness, live healthy, and live positively.