Perfect Diary of World-class Foot and Ankle Master’s Visit in Dongguan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine

From May 22 to May 27, 2023, Dr. Stinus, the world-known foot and ankle master, came to Dongguan Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Dongguan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine) as an international visiting professor and conducted a series of academic exchange activities in the hospital, including outpatient clinics, ward rounds, surgical instruction, surgical guidance, training on department construction, difficult cases discussions, and voluntary clinics.

Every day of Dr. Stinus' stay in China was full of light and color. Every day there are people gathering around him. The difference between working in China and working elsewhere is that, the Chinese colleagues value his devotion and support way beyond his expectations in every working day, being treated like a leading character in one movie. Every day is a special day, and this is the story he wants to tell in his life.

The Welcome Ceremony of 2023 Visiting Professor Trip of International Foot and Ankle Master Dr. Stinus in China 

On the morning of May 22, Dr. Stinus arrived at Dongguan Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Dongguan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine). Prof. Ye Guohua, Party Secretary of Dongguan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, with Prof. Lu Guoliang, director of the Department of Orthopedics, and Prof. Xie Qingxiang, director of the foot and ankle Surgery Department and his team, held a grand welcome ceremony for the one-week visiting professor trip of Dr. Stinus in China on the 7th floor of the hospital’s Traditional Chinese Medicine Center.

Mr. Su Boyuan, Deputy Director of foot and ankle surgery
Host of the Ceremony

Welcome Address Given by the Party Secretary from Dongguan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Thanks to meticulous preparation of all sides, the opening ceremony of “2023 Visiting Professor Trip in China of International Foot and Ankle Master-Dr. Stinus” held by Guangzhou University of Chinese Hospital, Dongguan Hospital (Dongguan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine) kicks off as scheduled here today. This visiting professor trip involves multiple ways of interaction including ward rounds, giving surgical guidance and holding meetings and so on. On behalf of all leaders and staff of the hospital, I would like to take the occasion to warmly congratulate on the successful delivery of opening ceremony. I would also like to express heartfelt thanks for University Medical Center Göttingen and Gloryren which have shown great support for this meeting and experts, professors and other guests who come here despite busy schedules.

Built in 1965, Guangzhou University of Chinese Hospital, Dongguan Hospital is the only modern Grade Ⅲ-A hospital of TCM in Guanyi area. It enjoys a good reputation and wide popularity in Guangdong Province and even the Southern China and it is the top 100 competitive TCM hospitals among all Chinese hospitals, the third batch of postdoctoral innovation practice base in Guangdong Province, as well as the leading hospital of Dongguan Orthopedic Specialty Alliance. In recent years, thanks to the kind care of leaders at all levels and the strong support of our colleagues, the Department of Orthopedics of the TCM Hospital has developed rapidly and has built up sub-specialties of trauma, orthopedics, joints, spine, microscopy, bone diseases, bone tumor, pediatric orthopedics, foot and ankle surgery, traditional orthopedic traumatology, etc., with 8 inpatient medical wards.

In 2019, Dr. Stinus visited our hospital twice to give keynote lectures, carried out case discussions, gave surgical guidance and academic lectures with our Department of Foot and Ankle Surgery. During 2019 to 2023, the Department of Foot and Ankle Surgery employed five new techniques and added a large number of minimally invasive and arthroscopic techniques under the help of Dr. Stinus. We are more than honored to have him visit us again today as friends for academic exchanges. I sincerely hope that all the fellows here will cherish this rare opportunity to exchange views and speak out. I also hope that Director Xie Qingxiang can have an in-depth exchange with Dr. Stinus about the current situation of the specialty construction of foot and ankle surgery in our hospital and even in the whole city, and discuss the future development of the specialty together. We will continue to improve the specialty and the academic level of research, and bring the specialty construction of foot and ankle to a higher level!

Finally, I wish the“2023 China Tour of International Foot and Ankle Masters”a great success. I wish Dr. Stinus, all experts and fellows good health and success.

After the warm welcome ceremony, Secretary Ye led Dr. Stinus on a tour of the internal regulation training and practice base of the TCM Medical Center, orthopedic practice rooms and smart wards, and introduced the orthopedic building expected to be completed in 2026, which will house 12 orthopedic sub-specialties and 512 beds.

"Functional Recovery is More Important than Aesthetics"

On the afternoon of May 22, Dr. Stinus arrived at the Department of Foot and Ankle Surgery for case discussion with the Foot and ankle team. This discussion focused on a patient with bilateral hallux valgus for more than 5 years. The patient had incomplete development of the bone structure of the lower limbs due to transient hypoxia of the brain at birth. In addition to the ankle deformity, the patient also had hip internal rotation, knee weakness, and calf contracture.

In Dr. Stinus’ point of view on the surgical objective, functional recovery would be more important than merely cosmetic correction of the foot, which would greatly improve the patient's living convenience and enhance the patient's confidence in postoperative recovery.

After careful physical examination of the patient, the foot and ankle team and Dr. Stinus had a heated discussion on the surgical plan to help the patient achieve better functional recovery.

Eliminating Language Barriers, Warmth Travels Cross Borders.

On the morning of May 23, Dr. Stinus went to the operating room of the hospital to observe and guide a surgery of Achilles Tendon rupture repair. After the surgery was successfully completed, Dr. Stinus immediately went to the outpatient building of the hospital.

Dr. Stinus's clinic starts at 10 a.m., but half an hour before it starts, the room is full of patients and their families.

The patients came from all parts of Guangdong province, and they came with thick films of their X-rays to seek more accurate diagnosis and treatment advice. Those patients in the clinic were diverse and covered a wide range of ankle and foot conditions, including pigmented villonodular synovitis, anterior talofibular ligament tears, giant cell tumors of tendon sheath, congenital flat foot, and complex hallux valgus.

Dr. Stinus' clinic service lasted from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.. To each patient, Dr. Stinus always patiently asked and answered the patient's questions carefully, with smile on his face. There was a small detail that Dr. Stinus always asked the patient : "May I examine your foot?" before the physical examination. Even with the language barrier, Dr. Stinus is highly appreciated by all of his patients. Warmth and kindness will always be borderless and needless to say, barrier-free.

The outpatient clinic also welcomed a special patient that day. In 2019, Dr. Stinus personally operated on Miss Hu during his last visit to Dongguan, China. Ms. Hu’s  foot cured well, and now she is able to walk on her feet again. When she learned that Dr. Stinus would return to Dongguan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine after three years, she sent flowers to Dr. Stinus to express her deep gratitude and respect. She also gave lychee, a kind of famous and delicious local fruit in Dongguan to Dr. Stinus.

On September 27, 2019, Dr. Stinus and Deputy Director Su Boyuan performed a surgery for Ms. Hu. The surgery includes:1. Clubfoot correction (osteotomy of the left acquired equinovarus foot and internal fixation with a staple plate) 2. Calcaneal osteotomy (left, plate and screw internal fixation) 3. Peroneus longus tendon shortening (left peroneus longus muscle transfer + anchor internal fixation). The patient was satisfied with the postoperative effect.

Voluntary clinic service make patient feel warm, and doctor’s benevolence shapes true and kindred feelings.

In order to help the public heal their foot diseases and promote the people's understanding and attention to foot health, Dongguan Hospital of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Dongguan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine) carried out a voluntary clinic of Chinese and German experts on the morning of May 25. The voluntary clinic offered free consultation in various foot diseases, including foot and ankle sprain and various fractures, flat foot, high arch, hallux valgus and other foot problems. Dr. Stinus and the foot and ankle surgery team of Dongguan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine participated in this voluntary clinic activity together.

The site was also equipped with advanced instruments to do gait analysis for everyone. Professor Song Weidong and Professor Li Wenchui answered questions about foot diseases on Baidu Live streaming.

At the site of the voluntary clinic, Dr. Stinus patiently listened to the patients' complaints, carefully reviewed the patient's past case materials, inquired about the medical history, carefully observed the patient's symptoms, explored the location of the injury. After that, he would judge the condition, and gave the patients professional treatment suggestions and rehabilitation training guidance, so that they had a scientific and correct understanding of their disease.

During the voluntary clinic service, Dr. Stinus treated nearly 15 patients.Dr. Stinus introduced the etiology, clinical manifestation, treatment, prevention and other aspects of foot diseases, combined with typical cases in daily life, popularizing the knowledge of foot health with easy-to-understand theory, so as to enhance the people's attention to foot health. The patients and their families were deeply moved by the his patience and carefulness, and they all expressed their gratitude.

2023 Sino-German Academic Exchange Conference on Foot and Ankle Surgery

On May 27, the "2023 Sino-German Academic Exchange Conference on Foot and Ankle Surgery" sponsored by Dongguan Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine (Dongguan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine) was held as scheduled.

Prof. Dr. Hartmus Stinus from Göttingen University Medical Center, Germany, Dr. Shou Qing from Unfallchirurgie am Klievesberg Hospital, Prof. Xu Hailin from Peking University, Prof. Song Weidong from Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Prof. Hong Jinsong from Guangzhou Orthopedic Hospital, Prof. Xiang Dayong from Southern Hospital of Southern Medical University, Zhang Yanhong, the deputy director of Dongguan Hospital of Integrative Medicine, and Professor Yu Chunbo and other experts attended the lecture.

In the conference, Professor Stinus shared Arthroreisis in flattfeet of children.

We will learn from each other, promote friendship and make progress together. Once again, I would like to thank all the professors who came from afar for their wonderful lectures. Let's give a warm applause to all the professors, and I would also like to thank all the colleagues who came! We wish all the leaders, experts and colleagues good health and good work!

The 3rd Sino-Euro International Orthopaedic Summit (Live Surgery) will have surgical sessions in ten Grade-III A hospitals in China from September 9-September 23. The conference focuses on various sub-specialties such as minimally invasive spine, joint surgery, trauma surgery, sports medicine, foot and ankle surgery, pediatric orthopedics, and bone oncology. Dr. Stinus will also come to Dongguan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine to personally perform foot and ankle surgery and live broadcast worldwide. Let’s wait and see.

Dr. Stinus, the Chief Medical Officer of the German National Team for the Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 paid his visit to Beijing, China in March 2022. He thinks that China is a very great country. He was deeply impressed by the extraordinary international games held in China. This May, he visits China again. On May 21, he flew from Germany to Guangzhou, China, arrived at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport at 23:00, and then set off for Dongguan overnight. On May 22, Mr. Ye Guohua, Party Secretary of Dongguan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, with Prof. Lu Guoliang, director of the Department of Orthopedics, and Mr. Xie Qingxiang, director of the foot and ankle Surgery Department, held a grand and brief welcome ceremony for the one-week visiting professor trip of Dr. Stinus in China in the newly built Traditional Chinese Medicine Center.