After two years of delayed trips due to the pandemic, Dr Stéphane Guero, an expert known as the “hand surgery magician” was able to return to Vietnam from May 25 until May 31, 2022.

During this return trip, Dr Stéphane Guero who only works at FV Hospital when visiting Vietnam performed 21 surgeries to correct rare hand deformities in adult and paediatric patients, funded by the Children of Vietnam charitable fund.

Dr Stéphane Guero examines patients at FV

French doctor Stéphane Guero has nearly 30 years of experience in his field, and is a founding member of the Hand Surgery Institute of France. Dr Stéphane has been coming to FV hospital for many years to examine and provide operations for patients with hand deformities, including many rare and extremely complicated cases that domestic doctors have not been able to take on.

Dr Stéphane is one of the few experts in the world who is able to successfully treat difficult hand deformities, such as:

• Restoring finger movement, reconstruction of grip function
• Separation of fingers in hands with syndactyly problems
• Plastic surgery for malformed hand
• Brachial plexus surgery
• Bone grafting for congenital finger amputations

During this visit, Dr Stéphane completed surgeries on 21 cases of hand deformities, mostly in children, the youngest of which was two years old. Most had congenital malformations which they have lived with for many years, often causing them pain or inconvenience during their daily routine. It’s often a point of stress and worry for patient’s families if children don’t receive timely treatment. Living with malformations at a young age, many children are not confident about their condition and hide their deformed hands or feet. They don’t feel confident playing with friends or meeting people, leading to long-term psychological effects. In addition to the main goal of hand rehabilitation, Dr Stéphane also pays special attention to aesthetic shaping for patients so that they can overcome psychological barriers and confidently enjoy their lives.

Most of Dr Stéphane Guero’s patients are children

“Many patients have to live with their deformities for a long time because no treatment is available to them in Vietnam. Even those in a stable financial condition who are willing to spend a great deal of money to travel abroad for treatment find it difficult to consult with experts like Dr Stéphane Guero, who have the necessary surgical skill for correcting hand and foot deformities. “FV is a hospital with excellent relationships with leading experts around the world. Leveraging the hospital’s prestige and responsibility to patients, FV team members strive to invite experienced doctors like Dr Stéphane to Vietnam to perform surgeries for patients who, in many cases, have longed for treatment for many years. We are proud and happy to create opportunities for these patients to gain confidence, and to live a normal life,” says Dr Jean-Marcel Guillon, CEO of FV Hospital. In addition, when being treated in Vietnam, patients and their families benefit from world-class care at a dramatically reduced cost of travelling abroad seeking treatment.

According to Dr Jean-Marcel Guillon, in order for global leader such as Dr Stéphane Guero to work in Vietnam, the hospital must meet strict standards set by the doctor. One of the reasons that Dr Stéphane confidently choose FV as the only place in Vietnam where he will offer operations is that FV meets international standards for medical care and patient safety. FV’s JCI-accredited operations include maintaining strict standards for infection control, operating room management procedures, post-operative care procedures, and employing well-trained operating room crews. Recently, FV achieved JCI International medical quality certification for the third consecutive time, achieving an almost perfect score and receiving high praise by the expert JCI team.

During his working trip at FV Hospital from May 25 to May 31, 2022, Dr Stéphane successfully provided many special treatments, including finger grafting, skin grafting, hand function restoration, hand reconstruction, syndactyly corrections, and adjustment of the hand axis. Baby N.H.T., aged three years, had multiple hand and arm deformities. This tiny patient only had eight fingers, two axial bones and no rotator cuff, and was one of the rare hand deformity cases in the world operated on by Dr Guero at FV this time.

Image of three-year-old N.H.T.’s hand bones

Dr Stéphane (seated, wearing glasses) joined a team of FV doctors examining a patient. This was also an opportunity for the Vietnamese medical team to have the opportunity to practice and learn difficult surgical techniques from the “hand surgery magician”.

In previous years, Dr Stéphane successfully treated V.T. (born 2015, in Hanoi) by transforming his index finger into a thumb on the patient’s right hand. Dr Stéphane also treated K.L. (born 2015, HCMC), who was born with a very small right thumb which was unable to grasp objects, while her left hand has no radial bone in the forearm, no thumb and was twisted rather than following a straight line. Many of the cases seen by Dr Stéphane were those where many doctors had recommended that problematic structures would be amputated, but through the “magic” of Dr Stéphane, these children’s hands were kept intact and functions restored.

Dr Stéphane Guero has successfully performed many surgeries to treat hand deformities in Vietnamese children

Speaking more about the significance of experts practicing in Vietnam, Dr Jean-Marcel Guillon says that world-class experts such as Stéphane Guero who come to work at FV also give Vietnamese doctors the opportunity to learn high-level skills. “In the not too distant future, Vietnamese doctors at FV will confidently perform surgeries that require complicated techniques, including correcting difficult pathologies and limb deformities.”

To make an appointment with Dr Stéphane Guero, patients can call FV Hospital’s Department of Orthopaedics and Hand Surgery: (028) 5411 3333, extension: 1226.