From May 6th - 11th , 2019, Prof. Dr. med. Jean-Charles Le Huec, the Former President of ISASS (International Society for Advancement of Spine Surgery) and E.S.S (European Spine Society), the President of SFCR (French Spine Society), was invited to Jiangmen Central Hospital being a visiting professor for academic communication, including outpatient clinic, ward rounds, surgical guidance, procedure, conduct training for the team, discussion on the management of the department, complicated case discussions and open classes, etc.

Prof. Dr. med. Jean-Charles Le Huec, an international master of minimally invasive spine surgery, is skilled in lumbar disc herniation, cervical diseases, lumbar spinal stenosis, lumbar spondylolisthesis, spinal scoliosis and spinal tumour, etc. He is renowned in the world and has an extraordinary influence in the field of orthopedics. His hospital, Bordeaux University Hospital, also has a great reputation in France. We believe that his academic tour to Jiangmen would create “sparks” between Chinese orthopedics and French orthopedics.

Introduction

Prof.Dr.med. Jean-Charles Le Huec

Prof. Le Huec is the Director of Spine Department and the Director of Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology of Bordeaux University Hospital. He is the Director of the Surgical Research Laboratory at the medical school of Bordeaux University Hospital. Prof. Le Huec has numerous publications and is involved in numerous research projects on spinal diseases, biomaterials and computer-assisted surgery.

He received an initial degree in Biology Applied Statistics in 1985 and a second degree in Anatomy and Organology in 1986. Also completed in 1986 is a master's degree in human biology with a focus on dissection. In 1987, he was a researcher in Montreal (Canada) and participated in various research projects (spine and knee joints). In 1987 he received an additional degree in sports medicine biology. He completed microsurgery study in 1989 followed by general surgery study in 1990.

In 1987, JC Le Huec became a physician, continued his studies in biomechanics and biomaterials, completed a preliminary study in 1990, and received his Ph.D. in physics in 1997. In 1998, he became a professor of orthopedics and traumatology.

Membership:

SFCR French Spine Society, President

ISASS member (international society for advancement of spine surgery), President, 2011-2012

E.S.S.member (European Spine Society), President 2012

NASS member (North American Spine Society) (chairman international education committee)

The Welcome and Opening Ceremony

On May 6th , Prof. Le Huec, an international master of minimally invasive spine surgery, came to Jiangmen Central Hospital being a visiting professor, who was the second visiting professor employed by Jiangmen Central Hospital.

President of Jiangmen Central Hospital Yuming Li, Director of Orthopedics Department of Jiangmen Central Hospital Zhongxian Chen, held a welcome ceremony for Prof. Le Huec. Then they introduced their departments to each other in detail.

After that, they held an unveiling ceremony to set up the “Sino-French Communication Center for Spine” between Bordeaux University Hospital and Jiangmen Central Hospital. The establishment of this center symbolized the first step of Jiangmen Central Hospital to join in international orthopedics.

(picture) the unveiling ceremony of Sino-French Communication Center for Spine

President Yuming Li said in his address that he hoped with the guidance of an international spine master, the Spine Surgery Department of Jiangmen Central   Hospital could continue to make use of its advantages and develop in an all-around way for cementing its place in orthopedics to serve for patients better.

Then Prof. Le Huec extended his appreciation to the invitation of Jiangmen Central Hospital, showing his expectation of this visit in China. He hoped that he could communicate with Chinese doctors in depth and make progress together

Teaching New Procedure Skills

In the afternoon, Prof. Le Huec visited the operation room of Jiangmen Central Hospital with the companion of Director of Spine Surgery Department Mr. Chen and other doctors in the same department. During visiting the operation room, Prof. Le Huec taught doctors there some skills and requirements of using position mats. Prof. Le Huec said the position mat in the operation room of Jiangmen Central Hospital was so old that it could only to be suitable for  decompression surgeries because this kind of mat had limit on people’s body sizes. He recommended to use the newest position mat because the older one may make the surgery space smaller.

Moreover, Prof. Le Huec showed us the method of setting position mats in French hospitals at the scene: at first, he folded up several bed sheets, then he used the newest thin position mats to encase the sheets, putting them in front of patient’s breast and lateral sides, which was easier to adjust the operation space without limit on patients’ body sizes. After that, Prof. Le Huec explained what kind of position was the most suitable for spine surgeries.

Director Chen showed different intervertebral foramen microscopy imaging systems to Prof. Le Huec and contrasted equipment between in Bordeaux University Hospital and in Jiangmen Central Hospital.

Spine

After visiting the operation room, Prof. Le Huec made primary diagnosis for two patients with scoliosis in their spine. Moreover, he taught the local doctors how to get the most effective X-Ray/ MRI with the appropriate postures.

Ward Rounds in the Spine Surgery Department

At 8:30a.m on May 7th , Prof. Le Huec arrived at the Jiangmen Central Hospital on time. After that, Director of Spine Surgery Department Xianzhong Chen took Prof. Le Huec to walk around the wards and learn about the situation of the wards.

During ward rounds, they mainly discussed five valuable cases. Prof. Le Huec pointed out that Jiangmen Central Hospital should build a standard process of diagnosis instead of directly deciding plans only on the basis of MRI. The process he gave us was: at first, doctors should make a diagnosis for the patient face to face; then doctors should ask the patient to do an X-Ray scan in standing position and bending position in the postures recommended by Prof. Le Huec; after that, doctors should see the MRI to decide treatment plans. Prof. Le Huec said the local doctors must change their original thinking way because skill is not a problem but the indication is the most important.

Outpatient Clinic

On the afternoon of May 7th , Prof. Le Huec came to the Outpatient Department of Jiangmen Central Hospital and made diagnosis for 24 patients who had made an appoinment with him in advanced by telephone. The youngest patient was a 6-year-old boy. Prof. Le Huec suggested that the little boy should keep to be observed because he was so young that his bone would keep on growing in the future.

The oldest patient was an 82-year-old woman, whose daughter said she was so stubborn that it was very difficult to ask her to the hospital. However, after hearing that there would be a French minimally invasive spine master to make a diagnosis for her, she assented.

One of them was a patient with scoliosis, a 16-year-old girl. Prof. Le Huec had made a primary diagnosis for her yesterday. The girl and her families arrived at the hospital so early that the girl could finish all physical examination in advanced which were recommend by Prof. Le Huec before. Prof. Le Huec analyzed her case seriously and gave an appropriate suggestion for her procedure.

In the whole process of outpatient clinic, Prof. Le Huec examined patients’ bodies and analyzed their images in detail to make suitable treatment plans. In the meanwhile, he taught the accompanying doctors some diagnosis methods and plans. The accompanying doctors thought that they benefited a lot. Moreover, Director of Spine Surgery Department Chen commented that Prof. Le Huec was very modest.

Surgical Guidance

On the morning of May 8th , Prof. Le Huec went to see the patient who would be operated on by himself tomorrow. It was a patient with spondylolisthesis. Prof. Le Huec did a body check for the patient and decided surgical plans according to her indication and imaging. Director Chen and his team actively cooperated with Prof. Le Huec. They prepared equipment for Prof. Le Huec so that he could do surgery without problems with equipment tomorrow. They even lent a retractor from the Department of Extremities and Sports Medicine.

Then Prof. Le Huec watched a surgery of lumbar disc herniation and gave some guidance besides. The technology used in this procedure was discectomy by posterior decompression. Prof. Le Huec appreciated that the skill of its primary surgeons were so brilliant because they performed a good operation.

Teaching Standard Training System

On the afternoon of May 8th , Prof. Le Huec conducted training for doctors and nurses of Spine Surgery Department in Jiangmen Central Hospital and discussed the management of the department. The atmosphere was very active.

Director Chen introduced the situation of Jiangmen Central Hospital. After that, Prof. Le Huec introduced the training system of Orthopedics Department of Bordeaux University Hospital.

Currently, Pro. Le Huec is the President of French Spine Society. In order to provide a more effective training for French residents, he carried out a standard training system in France. In addition, in Bordeaux University Hospital, per six months, Prof. Le Huec will send doctors of the Spine Surgery Department to other hospitals to receive training and improve their skills.

Prof. Le Huec said in order to improve the efficiency of operation rooms, in their hospital, all surgical equipment was single used which could save a lot of time on cleaning so that they could do more surgeries within the same time.

Sharing a New Angle Examination APP

After training, Prof. Le Huec and doctors of Jiangmen Central Hospital discussed cases. During it, Prof. Le Huec was not familiar about Chinese angle examination equipment on line, so he showed his angle examination application which was invented by himself. He used the phone camera scanning the images on the computer, then this application would analyze the angle of lumbar and give a report in detail. Moreover, this application can be downloaded from the APPSTORE. Doctors there thought this application was so amazing that they downloaded it immediately.

After that, Prof. Le Huec explained some contents of Campbell’s Operative Orthopedics about lateral fusion in spine. Prof. Le Huec was so familiar with this book because he had participated in the editing of this book and some of pictures in it were painted by him.

As a Primary Surgeon in Spondylolisthesis Surgery

On the morning of May 9th , Prof. Le Huec was responsible for a spondylolisthesis surgery of which the patient was a 63-year-old woman. A special part in this procedure was that Prof. Le Huec shared his special surgical concept, which aimed at keeping enough balance to do partial reduction instead of complete reduction. The surgery was successful.

In the afternoon, Prof. Le Huec went to the ward and examined the situation of the patient who accepted his procedure in the morning. Prof. Le Huec asked her to leave the bed and try to walk. The patient tried to sit up, to stand up and to walk with a crutch successfully.

Prof. Le Huec explained that doctors should ask patients to try to walk after operations because it could fasten the recovery of their body functions so that patients could be cured faster. Moreover, it would not increase blood loss because if patients lay on the beds, their body would have more friction on its wounds while if patients stand up or sit up, their wounds would have less friction.

Spine diagnosis should pay attention to general balance.

In the complicated case discussions on the afternoon of May 9th , Prof. Le Huec emphasized spinal biomechanics many times. He said doctors could not ignore general balance and only focus on malformation correction. Moreover, he taught such as how to decide long or short fusion, how to choose appropriate approaches, etc. After that, doctors there thought that Prof. Le Huec was a real master and he solved their many questions.

There was an interesting interlude during their discussions. One of doctors shared a case to Prof. Le Huec. Professor knew the patient had kidney cancer only from the MRI. All doctors there felt amazing because the patient had done  body examination for several times, but nobody could know what was wrong with him at the first time.

Sino-French Open Classes on Spine Surgery

On the morning of May 10th , Prof. Le Huec did an OLIF surgery and it was successful. Although the tube was a new type for him, he still finished the procedure in earnest and showed his operation skills.

In the afternoon, there was a seminar on the second floor of Renji Building in Jiangmen Central Hospital. A lot of Directors and Doctors from other hospitals in Jiangmen City gathered there. And Director Xianzhong Chen was the compere.

In this seminar, Prof. Le Huec gave a presentation on the diagnosis and treatment of stenosis while Deputy Director of Spine Surgery Department Xiangwei Yuan was his translator. Professor combined with his newest researches on the dignosis of stenosis in detail in his speech. Attending experts said they gained a lot from professor’s speech.

Closing Meeting of Sino-French Academic Communication for Spine

On the morning of May 11th , the Closing Meeting of Sino-French Academic Communication for Spine 2019 on the second floor of Renji Building in Jiangmen Central Hospital. And Director of Medical Department Xinli Yu was the compere.

In the meeting, President Yuming Li showed a high recognition to Prof. Le Huec ’s work in Jiangmen Central Hospital and extended his appreciation to Prof. Le Huec ’s help for Jiangmen Central Hospital. He also said he hoped that Prof. Le Huec would come to Jiangmen as a visiting professor again.

Prof. Le Huec affirmed the diagnosis and treatment level of Jiangmen Central Hospital. He pointed out that the spine surgery cannot develop without introduce of advanced equipment and update of concepts. Therefore, he briefly introduced some situation of newest equipment. At last, he wished that Jiangmen Central Hospital would develop better and better in the future.