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A 5 YEAR PROGRAM OF SURGICAL TREATMENT OF ENCEPHALOCOELES IN VIETNAM BY OPERATION SMILE AUSTRALIA
Author(s) -
Breidahl A. F.,
Lewandowski R.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
anz journal of surgery
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.426
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-2197
pISSN - 1445-1433
DOI - 10.1111/j.1445-2197.2009.04927_1.x
Subject(s) - medicine , vietnamese , ho chi minh , general surgery , surgical team , surgery , socioeconomics , sociology , low income , philosophy , linguistics
Operation Smile Australia (OSA) was founded by Richard Lewandowski and is a not for profit volunteer organisation, associated with Operation Smile International. OSA's mission is to bring modern craniofacial and plastic surgery techniques to developing countries. To this end, a five year plan is developed for each location, with the aim that by the end of the program the local medical teams are self sufficient and able to continue the surgical treatment of patients in their own countries without outside assistance. We report on a five year program to Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, where the local team has been successfully taught how to manage encephalocoeles. During this time 19 patients with encephalocoeles were surgically treated by the Operation Smile Team, with increasing responsibility assumed by the local medical team. Three patients with very large encephalocoeles were brought to Australia for treatment, and two Vietnamese Neurosurgeons were brought to Australia for further education and experience. Complications were minimal, and consist of a false passage created by urethral catheterisation and a CSF leak from a lumbar drain, both of which recovered completely with conservative management.