What’s the need?
Vietnam has a relatively high incidence of microtia and a very high incidence of motorcycle accidents including ear avulsions. We have been working with the fantastic team in Hanoi for several years to help them develop an ear reconstruction and are delighted that this is now fully operational. We undertook regular workshops with a truly international team of ear reconstruction experts including John Reinish (LA) Youssef Tahiri (LA), Jorma Rautio (Helsinki), Tia Phinomen (Helsinki), Walid Sabbagh (London), and Dr Said Al Busaidi (Muscat).
Dr Ha Nguyen's team of fantastic surgeons grew in confidence with each visit and are have now adapted their learning to create a novel protocol that meets the needs of their local population. They are, we can confidently say, now making beautiful ears.
The one remaining part of the equation is to integrate the care of microtia and atresia patients to offer hearing restoration along with ear reconstruction. To that end we are planning a final trip along with an otologist from ENTUK (Dr Alex Bennett) to run a workshop on the combined audiology, otology and plastic surgery care of such patients. We plan to use the BAPRAS/ENTUK guidelines on the care of microtia and atresia as a framework for teaching. Naturally audiology services are less well developed in Vietnam but we are confident in the ability and enthusiasm of the fantastic local clinicians.
Previous Visits
3 previous workshops:
- With Said Al-Busadi (Oman) 2016
- With Jorma Rautio (Finland) and John Reinish (USA) 2017
- With Walid Sabbagh (London) and Tiia Pihlamaa (Finland) 2019
- With Ken Stewart 2023
Ear reconstructions performed as demonstrations in collaboration with local team. Local surgeons have now established their own programme for ear reconstruction with excellent results
Future Plans
3 day workshop on multidisciplinary working – introducing BAPRAS/ENTUK guidelines on care of microtia and atresia. We have met many children on previous visits with bilateral atresia and conductive deafness who have not been provided with auditory input.
Ken Stewart
May 2022