The Diego González Rivas Foundation has completed a new international mission in Chad, marking a milestone for surgery in the country: the first minimally invasive lung resections performed using the Uniportal VATS technique. The team, led by Dr Diego González Rivas, operated at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire La Référence Nationale in N’Djamena on 30 and 31 August, shortly after completing its mission in Damascus, Syria. On this occasion, Dr González Rivas was accompanied by anaesthesiologist Radu Podaru, a regular collaborator of the Foundation who played an important role in the success of the mission.
The procedures included pneumonectomies — the complete removal of a lung — in patients whose lungs had been destroyed by conditions such as tuberculosis and aspergilloma. These are highly complex operations that were successfully performed using Uniportal VATS, the technique developed by González Rivas that enables surgeons to access the thoracic cavity through a single incision.
The recovery of one of the patients provided an immediate demonstration of one of the advantages of the minimally invasive approach. After undergoing surgery to remove a destroyed lung, the patient was already walking without pain just twelve hours after the operation, a remarkably rapid recovery that surprised the local medical team.
The mission also had real names and lives behind each diagnosis. Among the patients assessed was Fatima, a woman who had been suffering from episodes of coughing up blood and breathing difficulties for ten years. Her case was among those reviewed by González Rivas together with the Chadian medical team before the procedures.
Images from those days show a part of the work that usually takes place outside the operating theatre: González Rivas reviewing radiological scans with patients, discussing each case with the hospital specialists and preparing the procedures before deciding on the surgical approach.
The significance of this milestone takes on an added dimension in Chad, one of the countries with the lowest levels of human development in the world. The United Nations Development Programme ranks Chad 190th in its latest Human Development Index, while 84.2% of its population lives in multidimensional poverty, according to the most recent available estimate.
In a context marked by severe shortcomings in healthcare, education and living conditions, introducing an advanced surgical technique and training local professionals goes far beyond treating the individual patients operated on during a mission.
Chad’s first Uniportal VATS masterclass
The surgical activity took place as part of the first Uniportal VATS minimally invasive thoracic surgery masterclass held in Chad, jointly organised by the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire La Référence Nationale and the Diego González Rivas Foundation.
The programme on 30 and 31 August combined surgical procedures, training and lectures on VATS surgery, with the participation of professionals from the hospital and local specialists. Dr Husam Enaami also took part as a speaker alongside González Rivas.
Training is a fundamental part of the Foundation’s missions. Surgery provides treatment for patients who need an immediate response, while teaching the technique to healthcare professionals in the country extends the impact of each mission and creates the possibility for these procedures to continue after the international team has left.
In Chad, this transfer of knowledge took place directly around the operating theatre. Local specialists were able to observe the procedures, work alongside the team and learn through real cases about the possibilities offered by a thoracic surgical approach that had never previously been performed in the country using minimally invasive techniques.
The mission also attracted the attention of the Chadian media, who visited the hospital to report on the team’s arrival and the introduction of the Uniportal VATS technique in Chad.
De Chad a Sierra Leona
El final de la misión de N’Djamena tampoco supone el regreso a casa. Diego González Rivas ha dejado Chad rumbo a Sierra Leona, siguiente destino de la Fundación y última parada de un intenso recorrido internacional durante el mes de agosto. Allí el trabajo comenzó incluso antes de su llegada.
La Unidad Móvil de Cirugía de la Fundación Diego González Rivas se encuentra ya en Sierra Leona y un equipo de técnicos de Formación Profesional de Lugo se ha desplazado previamente al país para revisar sus instalaciones y equipamiento y dejarla preparada para la actividad quirúrgica.
La secuencia resume la forma de trabajar de la Fundación: mientras en un país terminan las operaciones, en el siguiente ya se prepara el quirófano.
Chad sucede a Siria, donde González Rivas impartió en Damasco la primera masterclass de Uniportal VATS celebrada en el país y realizó cuatro intervenciones quirúrgicas en directo. Antes, la Fundación había desarrollado otra misión en El Salvador.
Ahora el recorrido continúa en Sierra Leona, esta vez con la Unidad Móvil de Cirugía preparada para volver a convertirse en quirófano sobre el terreno.
Estas son algunas de las imágenes que nos deja la misión de El Chad:
