Dr. Tran Ngoc Luong (middle) has trained and transferred his technique on thyroid endoscopic surgery to a range of domestic and foreign experts.

Named after its inventor as the Dr. Luong technique, the Vietnam Records Organisation (VietKings) recognised the technique’s record on July 4, as part of a scientific research on the techniques on thyroid endoscopic surgery which are the most applied, transferred and trained at home and abroad.

Dr. Luong is a leading expert in endoscopic surgery to treat thyroid pathology.

His thesis on "Research and application of laparoscopic surgery to treat several thyroid diseases" has achieved the excellent State level grade for scientific research and won the first prize at the Vietnam Talent Award 2014.

It is a complicated technique and at that time, only a few doctors in the world could perform the different techniques, with many limitations.

The breakthrough in Dr. Luong's surgical method is to carry out endoscopic surgery through small incisions on the skin in the armpit and chest , ranging from 0.5 to 1 cm, which would disappear after a few months and can be completely covered by clothing.

This method applies to all different pathologies of the thyroid gland, such as goitre, Basedow disease and thyroid cancer.

The superiority of the technology is to be able to operate on large bumps without having to cut any muscles in the regio colli anterior.

Dr. Luong said that with laparoscopic surgery, aesthetic factors are guaranteed. Patients after surgery can return to normal life sooner, with confidence in communication without the need to cover their neck with jewellery as before. 

Economically, it is a much more time-saving and cost-effective surgical technique than the pre-existing technology in the world.

Comparing a thyroid lobe cut in the Republic of Korea or Singapore, which takes two hours at a cost of about US$8,000-10,000, with the equivalent at the Hanoi-based National Hospital of Endocrinology, the surgery in Vietnam is much more cost-effective as it takes only 20 minutes at a cost of just US$300-400.

Since 2016, Dr. Luong and his colleagues have performed 5,381 thyroid endoscopic surgeries, which would have a total cost of over US$43 million if performed in Singapore.

Meanwhile, having conducted the surgeries at the Hanoi’s hospital, patients only payed just over US$1.6 million.

Up to now, there have been 327 professors and doctors from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan, India, Australia and Portugal who have come to Vietnam to learn about this technique.

In addition to surgery on the thyroid gland, other surgical techniques are also continuously being researched by Dr. Luong, like the sympathetic ganglia surgery to treat hand sweating with fast surgery from only 3-4 minutes.

Other types of endocrine gland surgeries, such as endocrine tumors of the pancreas and adrenal adenomas have also been successfully deployed at the hospital by Dr. Luong.

Nhan Dan