In 1994, at the age of 29, Nguyen The Hoang, Captain of Military Medicine, and Level-1 Specialist in Orthopedic Trauma, became one of the first two Vietnamese to receive a scholarship from the German government to pursue doctoral research at the University of Munich. Three years later, he successfully defended his dissertation to become a Doctor of Medicine with outstanding results.

In 2006, after being awarded the title of Associate Professor in Vietnam, he received the Alexander von Humboldt scholarship and returned to Germany to study for a doctorate in science. Each month, Hoang received a scholarship of about 3,000 Euros (about VND60 million at the time), a substantial amount that allowed him to live comfortably and focus entirely on his studies.

During those years, orthopedic surgical tools in Vietnam were very scarce. Even basic surgical sutures were of low quality, let alone expensive equipment like surgical microscopes and other specialized instruments. Even in Germany, such toolsets were incredibly costly. A surgical toolset was priced at a few thousand or tens of thousands of dollars.

Driven by passion, he spent most of his scholarship to buy books and surgical tools to bring back to Vietnam. In some of those years, he spent around 20,000 to 30,000 Euros on acquiring tools and specialized books.

At that time, in Hanoi, the amount was a significant fortune, enough to buy a land plot or a luxury apartment. Hoang didn’t hesitate, for example, to spend nearly US$20,000 on a state-of-the-art Opmi 8 surgical microscope after saving money for a year. 

Fortunately, Hoang’s wife, also a doctor, understood and shared his passion for scientific research and his wholehearted dedication to patients.

“Many people back then told me that such investments were foolish. But they didn’t realize that those investments were what led to my success in my career today,” he said.

Another surprising fact is that Hoang twice declined invitations to stay and work in Germany. The first time was in 2008 when he was in Germany as an Associate Professor, Doctor of Science, Colonel of Military Medicine, and head of a department at Hospital 108. At that time, he was also granted the title of Associate Professor by the University of Munich.

The second time was in 2012 after he received the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel International Research Award from Germany’s Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for exceptionally outstanding and scientifically groundbreaking work—a prize considered Germany’s Nobel Prize in Medicine. He was then Deputy Director of the Orthopedic Trauma Institute at Hospital 108.

World's first double-arm transplant 

In 2008, Nguyen The Hoang became known as one of the five lead surgeons who performed the world’s first double-arm transplant in Munich. Following the success of that surgery, he and the surgical team were awarded the Karl Max Von Bauerfeind Scientific Achievement Award by the University of Munich.

The surgery lasted 17 hours. Later, when applying microsurgery techniques to a similar Vietnamese patient, also involving a simultaneous double-arm transplant, he and his team just needed seven hours.

The passion and ambition of Dr. Hoang and his colleagues at the Orthopedic Trauma Institute of Hospital 108 have transformed the lives of thousands of patients once thought beyond help.

One such case was N.M.H from Nam Dinh, who suffered from a condition not described in the medical literature at that time. With legs twisted like tree roots, he couldn’t walk on his own. Not only were domestic doctors stumped, but American orthopedic specialists visiting Nam Dinh for charitable treatment also shook their heads.

In 2018, after a traffic accident, he was brought to Hospital 108 and met Professor Hoang. After eight months of treatment and three surgeries, he could walk normally. That surgery entered the history of orthopedics in Vietnam and worldwide, and marked a world record: lengthening a leg by 21 centimeters just with one operation.

Before 2020, limb transplants from living donors were considered a pipe dream. At that time, no such surgery had been performed or reported in medical literature or media worldwide.

Once again, Hoang amazed his German colleagues and the world with a groundbreaking achievement at Hospital 108 when he successfully conducted the world’s forearm transplant from a living donor.

On September 16, 2020, Tran Bang Nam from a Vietnamese patient received a simultaneous double-arm transplant from a brain-dead donor, becoming the second person successfully transplanted at Hospital 108. Nam has led a normal life since then. 

Vo Thu