Cover reporter Zhou Jiayi
Recently, the East Timor Guido Valadares National Hospital completed the country’s first Holter monitor.
Senior Jose Silva, 75 years old this year, suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy, heart failure and other diseases, has recently developed symptoms of palpitations and dyspnea, Wen Lianbin, Department of Cardiology, East Aid Medical Team of Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital During the treatment of the elderly Jose, the doctor found that the elderly had arrhythmia, and the electrocardiogram showed premature atrial beats. Therefore, Dr. Wen used the Holter just brought from China to perform a 24-hour Holter ECG examination for the elderly. There were more than 24,000 atrial premature beats, paired premature atrial beats, doublet and triplet of premature atrial beats in total. This report provides strong support for the formulation of follow-up treatment plans for the elderly.
Dr. Wen Lianbin (first from left) and Elder Jose Silva (first from right)
On October 19, 2021, as a member of the ninth batch of Chinese medical aid team in East Timor, Dr. Wen Lianbin set off from Chengdu and went to work in East Timor for two years. Although he was mentally prepared, after arriving at the workplace, he was still shocked by the backward medical conditions in the local area. “Many examination and treatment items have not been carried out, basic drugs such as furosemide cannot be supplied stably, and only streptokinase thrombolysis is an option for reperfusion therapy of acute myocardial infarction.”
How to carry out under difficult conditions Work is a difficult problem for Dr. Wen. After officially working in the national hospital, Dr. Wen set his work goals. First, he had a detailed understanding of the current medical situation in the hospital, identified the weak links in clinical work, and then gradually carried out the diagnosis and treatment projects required by Timor-Leste. “Ambulatory electrocardiogram, also known as Holter electrocardiogram, is the use of a dynamic electrocardiograph to record the cardiac electrical activity of patients in their daily life for 24 hours or more, in order to detect arrhythmias and myocardial defects that are not easily found in routine surface electrocardiogram examinations. It provides an important objective basis for clinical diagnosis, treatment and judgment of curative effect. This is a very important examination measure in cardiovascular medicine. If this examination can be carried out, it will greatly improve the diagnostic ability of cardiovascular disease in Timor-Leste.”
How to “get” a Holter monitor? This is no small problem. East Timor does not have this kind of equipment. If it is purchased from China, there is no way to send the equipment to East Timor for the time being, because many logistics companies do not have East Timor’s destination and cannot mail them at all.
After many inquiries, Dr. Wen Lianbin finally contacted an employee of a Chinese company who went to work in East Timor. Dr. Wen immediately purchased a dynamic electrocardiograph from China and entrusted the employee to bring it to East Timor.
However, the instrument encountered another difficulty when it arrived in Timor-Leste. “Although I read the dynamic ECG report almost every day when I was in China, I still feel that I can’t start writing the report myself. There is no ECG professional doctor in Timor-Leste, and there is no support to rely on. Everything has to be done by yourself.” Dr. Wen downloaded “Expert Consensus on the Standardization of Holter Reports”, “Technical Guidelines for ECG Measurements”, “Consensus of Chinese Experts on the Standardization of ECG Diagnostic Terminology” and other documents, carefully studied and understood, and wrote and revised reports in person. Through such efforts, the elderly Jose Silva became the first patient in the country to benefit from a Holter monitor.
When they learned that they were the first patient in Timor-Leste to complete the dynamic electrocardiogram examination, the patients and their families expressed their sincere gratitude to the Chinese medical team and Dr. Wen.
While developing this new technology, Dr. Wen Lianbin thought more about letting East Timorese doctors master this technology so as to leave a medical team that could not be taken away. Therefore, every time Dr. Wen Lianbin checks the Holter, he will complete it together with the local doctor, and demonstrate how to place electrodes, check the instrument, analyze the data, and write the report. After a period of exercise, the East Timorese doctor can now complete the examination independently.
The development of this examination has provided strong support for the diagnosis of local cardiovascular diseases, and also provided great convenience for the local people, and patients no longer need to go abroad for this examination.
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