当前位置： Language Tips> VOA听力> Normal Speed News VOA常速

Vietnamese-American doctor helps rebuild bodies, lives(视频)

中国日报网 2012-09-21 09:58

分享到

HOUSTON — Plastic surgery is often associated with celebrities getting cosmetic face lifts and other procedures to make them more attractive. But plastic and reconstructive surgery can also help people who have been disfigured by birth defects, accidents or disease. There are also cases in which plastic surgery can save a life.

To his patients at the Methodist Hospital of Houston, Doctor Tue Dinh is a miracle worker.

Barbara Martinez came to him for help after surgery to fix a hernia left her with a painful and dangerous hole in her abdomen.

"He could see the pain, I could see the compassion in his face and he said, 'I can help you,'" she said.

She is also impressed with the doctor's modesty.

"I try to tell him 'thank you' and he just says he is doing his job, but… his heart is in it, not just a scalpel in his hand," she said.

Dr. Dinh says the challenge of plastic and reconstructive surgery often involves improvising solutions to life-threatening conditions.

"Plastic surgery not only improves the quality of life of a patient, but sometimes it can save the patient's life," he said.

Dr. Dinh often operates on patients who have been disfigured or medically compromised by accidents or even by other medical procedures.

Today, Dr. Dinh is trying to fix a problem created by surgery at another hospital.

In this case, the patient's spinal cord was left exposed when infected tissue was removed.

Dr. Dinh uses a tissue replacement technique he has used many times to cover life-threatening openings in patients' chests

"We have a procedure to bring a muscle flap to cover the exposed heart and to reconstruct the chest wall, for example, and reconstruct the sternum, and that keeps the heart covered," he said.

Tue Dinh was born in Vietnam and came to the United States with his family in 1975. But since he left medical school he has returned to his birth country many times with his siblings, who are also doctors/plastic surgeons to help people there.

"I just have an emotional attachment, my brother and I and my sister, to go back to Vietnam and we try to go back practically every year," he said.

In one well-known case in Vietnam, Dr. Dinh helped this seven-year-old boy, Thien Nhan, who was mutilated by wild animals when he was a baby.

Dr. Dinh says restoring the boy's physical appearance helps him psychologically, as well.

In the near future, Dr. Dinh says, advances in the use of stem cells and other techniques may allow him to do even more for such patients.

“Hopefully, in the near future we can create something that is completely new from the lab and transfer and create. This is an exciting time to be a plastic surgeon," he said.

But for now, Dr. Dinh continues to innovate with traditional techniques to help his grateful patients.

US drought renews debate on biofuel(视频)

CPJ: Journalists need new ways to stay safe(视频)

Reality of mormon life more complex than Romney image(视频)

（来源：VOA 编辑：Julie）

上一篇 : Reality of mormon life more complex than Romney image(视频)
下一篇 : From Giverny to Bronx: 'Monet's Garden' flowers in NY(视频)

分享到

中国日报网英语点津版权说明：凡注明来源为“中国日报网英语点津：XXX（署名）”的原创作品，除与中国日报网签署英语点津内容授权协议的网站外，其他任何网站或单位未经允许不得非法盗链、转载和使用，违者必究。如需使用，请与010-84883561联系；凡本网注明“来源：XXX（非英语点津）”的作品，均转载自其它媒体，目的在于传播更多信息，其他媒体如需转载，请与稿件来源方联系，如产生任何问题与本网无关；本网所发布的歌曲、电影片段，版权归原作者所有，仅供学习与研究，如果侵权，请提供版权证明，以便尽快删除。