In October last year, when Prof. Freude was having academic exchanges at Dongguan TCM Hospital, a critical patient who suffered from a car accident with poly-trauma was admitted to the ER of the hospital. Director LIANG Haobiao from the Trauma-Orthopedic Department and Prof. Freude, together with other experts from the Anesthesiology, Intervention, Gynecology, and General Surgery had consultations in the ICU and OR, trying to discuss the best treatment for the trauma of this critical patient.

Inpatient for 134 days;

In ICU for 70 days;

Been through 20 complicated surgeries;

The 23-year-old lady, Xiaofang (alias), has regained the control of her life！

On May 6th, Dongguan TCM Hospital issued its first public disclosure of the medical treatment report on this complicated, acute, and critical case, demonstrating its strength in medical treatment.

Looking back at the morning of October 17th last year, in Qishi, Dongguan, this young Guizhou girl was accidentally dragged into the bottom of a big truck, leading to penetrating wounds to the pelvis and perineum, comminuted fractures and deformities of the pelvis, large-area skin degloved injuries of the waist, hips and lower limbs combined with hemorrhagic shock.

For the emergency medical staff from Dongguan Qishi Hospital who went to the accident spot for first aid, the scene of the badly mutilated lower part of this girl’s body has become an indelible memory. Between the thin line of life and death, while they were performing treatments such as hemostasis, blood transfusion, volume expansion and anti-shock, sedation, and tracheal intubation, they urgently sought help from the Trauma Center of Dongguan TCM Hospital.

After receiving the phone call, Director LUO Runjun from the Emergency Department of Dongguan TCM immediately sent out an ambulance to Qishi for emergency transfer. After arrival, a ventilator and norepinephrine were given to the patient by the aid team for ventilation and to maintain blood pressure and fluid rehydration, and then the patient was transferred to Dongguan TCM Hospital for further treatment. Thanks to the cooperation between Dongguan Qishi Hospital and the Trauma Center of Dongguan TCM Hospital since 2023, a quick pass for patient transfer has been set up, contributing to a quick and well-order transfer.

Amid the ambulance rushing to save time for the life, Secretary YE Guohua of the Party Committee and President DENG Weijun of Dongguan TCM Hospital attached great importance to this case after receiving the report. The hospital activated its Ziyun First Aid System to bring together multidisciplinary experts to the Emergency Department for the preparation of the treatment and issued the injury information and pictures in the Trauma Center Group at the same time.

The quick pass had been already activated. At around 11:00 a.m., the ambulance arrived at the Trauma Center. At this point, Xiaofang had a pulse of 130 beats/min and a blood pressure of 64/32mm Hg. Experts from Vascular Disease and Interventional Oncology, Traumatology and Orthopedics, General Surgery, Urology Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology, proctology, and other specialties were motivated to have consultation to implement a hospital-wide rescue.

Experts worked together to perform interventional hemostasis, external fixation, and suture hemostasis, aiming to stabilize the patient's vital signs first.

After in-depth discussions and careful examination, the multidisciplinary team developed a meticulous surgical and treatment plan. First, the Department of Vascular Intervention would perform embolization on the bilateral internal iliac artery and left internal iliac vein to stop bleeding; then they would send the patient to the OR for external fixator on the pelvic, exploratory laparotomy, pelvic retroperitoneal gauze packing, and perineal tissue tear exploration and packing hemostasis, etc.; after surgery, the patient was sent to the ICU for continued rescue treatment.

Due to hemorrhagic shock, Xiaofang had a large amount of bleeding, and her hemodynamics were severely unstable. With the full support of Dongguan Central Blood Station, Dongguan TCM Hospital transfused Xiaofang with a large number of red blood cells, plasma, cryoprecipitate, platelets, albumin, and other blood products to stabilize her vital signs.

After racing against time for emergency rescue, Xiaofang's hemodynamics improved and her consciousness became clear. Vasoactive drugs were gradually withdrawn and the tracheal intubation was removed.

Being through many surgeries such as wound debridement and drainage, after the infection improved, she underwent open reduction internal fixation of the pelvis, skin flaps, skin grafting, and other surgeries. Xiaofang overcame one difficulty after another and finally survived.

Deputy Director Mo Qijun from the Department of Critical Care Medicine at Dongguan TCM Hospital said that Xiaofang had undergone a total of 20 surgeries in the hospital, which was an extremely hard experience. During Xiaofang's treatment and recovery, the hospital organized multiple multidisciplinary consultations and ward rounds, and jointly adjusted the treatment plan based on her specific situation. The medical staff also provided psychotherapy for Xiaofang to help her strengthen her confidence and courage.

On December 26th, Xiaofang was transferred out of ICU and into the general ward to start rehabilitation training. Traditional Chinese medicine rehabilitation physiotherapy played an important role in helping Xiaofang regain her feet. With the help of her parents and the recovery team, she took the first step and trudged forward, getting better day by day.

On February 29th, 2024, Xiaofang finally recovered and was discharged from the hospital. When leaving Dongguan TCM Hospital, she and her parents burst into tears.

More than two months since she was discharged, Xiaofang has been undergoing rehabilitation training. Experts from Dongguan TCM Hospital also made follow-up calls to her from time to time to check on her recovery status and told her to consult anytime if she had any confusion.

Xiaofang's successful treatment and recovery can be called a "miracle of life." Mo Qijun said that this is the fruit of Dongguan TCM Hospital's life-first insistence and the multidisciplinary team's professionalism and collaborative spirit in dealing with complex cases. It is also the blooming flower of life irrigated by Xiaofang's tenacious will.

After more than two years of construction, a TTA treatment team has been established in the Trauma Center of Dongguan TCM Hospital, collaborating with the MDT team in the hospital to treat trauma patients. The number of trauma patients admitted annually is nearly 5,000, with the number of severe trauma patients with ISS>16 exceeding 100. It has become an important center in the treatment of acute and critical trauma patients in Dongguan.

Various indicators of the Trauma Center of Dongguan TCM Hospital have significantly improved: the average pre-hospital emergency transfer time is 16.31 minutes (domestic average is 19.96 minutes); the average emergency stay time is 11.6 minutes (domestic average is 84.54 minutes); the rescue success rate of severe trauma patients is 99.23% (domestic average is 97.72%); the proportion of received patients transferred from other hospitals is 9.97% (domestic average 2.65%).

It is worth mentioning that during Xiaofang’s emergency rescue on October 17th, 2023, Prof. Freude, an international trauma expert, Head of the Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, University Medical Center PMU Salzburg, Austria, and the President-Elect of the Austrian Society of Surgery for 2025, was exactly in Dongguan Hospital of TCM to conduct academic exchanges.

After seeing the rescue process and measures of Dongguan TCM Hospital, Prof. Freude highly recognized it. He gave a thumbs up and praised: "Very Good"!

Prof. Dr. med. Thomas Freude

Work Experience:

?Head of Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, University Medical Center PMU Salzburg (since 07/2016)

? Professor for Orthopaedics and Traumatology, PMU Salzburg (since 07/2016)

? Managing Director of University Medical Center of Traumatology, BG-Klinik Tübingen; Eberhard-Karls-Universit?t Tübingen (09/2013-06/2016)

AO Trauma International Activities:

? Board Member of AO Austria (since 2018)

? Chairman of AO Trauma Principles Course for OP Staff (2014)

? Chairman of AO Trauma Education Live Lecture/ Davos (2012)

Scientific Activities:

?Cooperation Osteopore Singapore Bone replacement by 3D printed scaffolds (03/2015)

?Research cooperation Biomechanics Laboratory Legacy Research Institute, Michael Bottlang, Portland, USA (09/2011)

?Head of the scientific team of Cell Research and Fracture Care, Siegfried-Weller-Institut, BG-Klinik Tübingen; Eberhard-Karls-Universit?t Tübingen (04/2011)

? Build up the team Cell Research and Fracture Care, Klinikum Rechts der Isar; TU München (2009-2011)