Female expert for more than 4 decades protects high-risk pregnancies

18 days of "intelligence battle" to keep the fetus when both mother and child are in critical condition

The decision to keep the pregnancy cannot be made only with love, but must go hand in hand with knowledge and responsibility," Dr. Nguyen Thi Tan Sinh shared about the "intelligence battle" moments in obstetrics, when each choice is associated with human life.

The most recent proof is a particularly critical case that she and her team successfully treated. The pregnant woman was 27 weeks pregnant, admitted to the hospital with a ruptured membrane for more than 24 hours, dry amniotic fluid, and an alarming level of infection, facing the risk of abortion to protect the mother's life.

This is an IVF pregnancy. When facing the risk of losing her child, the mother cried a lot and the family was extremely worried," Dr. Sinh recalled.

According to Dr. Sinh, if the pregnancy is maintained, the risk of spreading the infection can directly threaten the life of the pregnant woman, while the fetus faces a series of serious complications such as premature birth accompanied by pneumonia, encephalitis, necrotizing enterocolitis. This is one of the leading dangerous situations in obstetrics.

After consultation and careful consideration between risk and opportunity, Dr. Sinh decided to keep the pregnancy and nourish it further in the womb. A comprehensive and rigorous treatment strategy was built from the beginning.

The mother is controlled for infection with appropriate antibiotics, closely monitoring indicators to limit the risk of bacterial invasion. At the same time, the fetus is injected with lung growth support drugs. In the context of infection, the use of drugs may affect the child's immune barriers, but if not injected, the fetal lungs will not be able to breathe when born.

Amidst a series of risks, each decision must be made in the most responsible way. Each dose of medicine and injection is calculated in detail by the entire team to ensure safety for the pregnant woman and fetus," said Dr. Sinh.

Not only professional treatment, she is also a spiritual support for the pregnant woman. Due to excessive anxiety, the mother fell into a state of insomnia and poor appetite. Dr. Sinh regularly encouraged and explained clearly with scientific grounds so that the pregnant woman and her family could feel secure in cooperating in treatment.

When the mother is calm, trusts and is fully cared for both mentally and nutritionally, the fetus truly has the opportunity to be protected," she emphasized.

Thanks to the efforts of her and the team, the fetus was kept for 18 precious days. “When the baby was born, even though it only weighed 1 kg, I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the baby cry, his skin was rosy, and his muscle tone was good. I delayed cutting the umbilical cord to increase the amount of blood from the baby to the baby before transferring it to the neonatal resuscitation team,” Dr. Sinh shared.

Although she has been in the profession for more than 40 years, such moments still move the female doctor. Those are the "spiritual vaccines" that help her continue to persistently contribute to medicine.

Looking forward to seeing young doctors grow up with bravery and kindness

Trained at leading Obstetrics and Gynecology centers in the UK, France, USA, Japan, Australia, Dr. Nguyen Thi Tan Sinh brought international standards of expertise and evidence-based medical thinking when returning to Vietnam. Before accompanying the Vinmec Health System from 2013, she worked at leading hospitals such as Bach Mai, Viet Phap.

Currently, at Vinmec, she takes on many roles: directly treating complex cases, participating in scientific research, training doctors in the system and teaching at VinUni University. For her, practice – research – training is a unified whole.

To date, she has chaired and participated in more than 50 scientific research topics, and is the author of many specialized documents, including works published internationally.

In addition to research, she regularly reports scientific research at specialized conferences at home and abroad, and participates in international cooperation networks.

For Dr. Sinh, professional value is not only in the number of difficult cases or academic achievements, but also in the responsibility of training the next generation of doctors. In teaching sessions, she especially emphasized communication skills, listening and building trust with patients.

According to her, a doctor needs to converge three qualities: constantly improving expertise, bravery in the face of life-and-death decisions, and kindness to accompany patients.

When I keep that set of values, I believe they will be good successors and even better than our generation. What I desire is to see young doctors grow up with bravery and kindness," she shared.