以色列外科醫生的中國情結
An Israeli surgeon's dexterity treating the largest and most serious wounds has brought him to Sichuan province again and again, he tells Liu Zhihua.
Moris Topaz finally had a good sleep on the flight from New York to China recently. The 63-year-old usually sleeps only three hours a day but that's enough, he says, to give him plenty of energy for his work.
Topaz heads the plastic surgery unit of the prestigious Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera, Israel. He also serves as the secretary-general of the International Committee for Quality Assurance and Medical Technologies and Devices in Plastic Surgery.
On this, his most recent trip to China, he was part of a delegation led by Ronni Gamzu, director-general of Israel's Ministry of Health, which aimed to strengthen the cooperation of health communities in the two countries.
While "cooperation" may sound vague to outsiders, Sichuan resident Gong Fangxue has a very clear idea what that word means to ordinary people.
If not for TopCloser, a groundbreaking method for closing large wounds that Topaz applied in her operation, Gong probably would have died from a huge malignant tumor.
"It was a unique case over a very big tumor. Usually with these kinds of tumors, we have to do complicated surgeries with skin grafts or flaps," Topaz says.
"This time, we actually stretched the skin in a way we hadn't done before."
Gong, 40, found a suddenly fast-growing bump on her right shoulder in 2009. The resident of Deyang was diagnosed with a malignant spindle cell tumor.
Although it didn't spread to other parts of the body, the cancerous bump grew very fast.
Over the next two years, Gong underwent several removal surgeries, but the condition always recurred shortly after the treatments, and the tumor grew bigger and bigger.
Late last year, Gong came to the People's Hospital of Deyang City, after many other hospitals, including big ones in Beijing, refused to treat her. By that time, the tumor had become half as big as Gong's head, making her head lean toward the left. It had become difficult for her to move her neck. Worse, the tumor stretched the skin so far that at any time, the blood vessels could be broken, potentially leading to massive, even lethal bleeding.
Removing the tumor was urgent but tissues around the tumor were adhering with the tumor itself so it would be hard to avoid major bleeding, and nerve damage could cause death or paralyze her.
An operation wound so large would take a long time to heal with traditional wound-closure methods, such as skin flaps, but Gong needed quick healing so she could have radiotherapy as soon as possible and prevent a relapse.
"It was very risky to treat her, but we had to," says the hospital's president, Fan Tianyong.
"It is a hospital's duty to save lives even if the hope is very dim."
Luckily, the hospital had established a relationship with Topaz, who has superb experience and skills to treat such complicated conditions, Fan adds.
"The minute I saw pictures of the patient, I felt I must go to the hospital for her," Topaz says.
On Dec 13, 2013, Topaz operated on Gong with physicians from the hospital.
In a four-hour operation, they removed the tumor tissues carefully, and used the TopClosure system to connect the two edges of existing skin with a special plastic thread, eliminating the need for skin-implant reconstruction.
The second day after the operation, Gong felt her pain easing. Within two weeks, the wound healed, and she was able to have radiotherapy. Now regular checkups indicate she is recovering from the cancer.
It was the first time in the world that such a large wound was healed without skin flaps and implants, according to Li Yongzhong, director of the hospital's burns and plastic surgery department.
But that's just a sample of what Topaz has done to enhance medical cooperation between China and Israel.
In 2008, when news came that an 8.0-magnitude earthquake hit Sichuan, Topaz volunteered to the province's foreign experts' affairs bureau to help save critically injured victims.
He soon arrived in Deyang, one of the most severely hit areas, donating medical devices and medicines that cost 100,000 yuan ($16,000) and treating patients.
He also trained local medical professionals with advanced wound-treating methods, which helped patients with large wounds heal faster, with less infection, suffering and aftereffects.
Since then, Topaz has visited Sichuan regularly, to train local medical personnel with new plastic-surgery technologies and techniques.
In 2011, Li's hospital established close ties with Topaz's. In 2012, with help from Topaz, Li and a colleague were invited to Hillel Yaffe Medical Center to study with medical experts there.
Benefiting from Topaz's help, the hospital has exponentially extended its burns and plastic surgery department's ability and capacity: The department now has 17 doctors and nurses, up from the original two doctors.
"Professor Topaz has visited Deyang dozens of times to teach and help our doctors here in the past few years," Li says.
"He is very nice and a good friend to Chinese people."
Q&A
1. What's your personal China story?
It's very special experience, because I came to China nine years ago. I had heard about China in stories but not in reality. It is very impressive to see the way China is developing in a very fast way.
2. What drew you to China?
In my profession, I come where I can do surgeries, I do good (to people). It helps me know the people. I have many friends in many places in China. You meet one surgeon in one surgery, and then you know him for life.
3. What's your life's dream?
I don't sleep much, so I don't have much time to dream! I try to do things. I'm trying to do as much as possible.
4. What's your take on the Chinese Dream? How is it related to your dream?
I think the Chinese Dream should be having China improve with better medicine, better education and better life. China is one of the most peaceful countries in the world. You should keep it good, that is important.
5. How will you think the Chinese Dream plays out in China? What does if means for international community and Chinese people?
China is very strong and is taking more and more part in the international arena. You had the most fantastic Olympic Games and are advancing in many fields.中國日報5月6日電（記者劉志華）一名以色列外科醫生告訴中國日報記者劉志華，因爲他在治療大面積嚴重創傷方面醫術嫺熟，因此他多次來到四川省。
最近，莫瑞斯·託帕茲（Moris Topaz）終於在紐約飛往中國的航班上好好地睡了一覺。63歲的他經常一天只睡3個小時，但他說，這足以給他的工作提供了充足的能量。
託帕茲是以色列哈代拉希勒雅法醫學中心（Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera）的整形外科主任，他還是國際醫學整形美容質量保證和設備安全委員會總祕書長。
在最近一次的中國行中，他是以色列訪華代表團的一員。此代表團由以色列衛生部總司長羅尼·甘祖(Ronni Gamzu)率領，旨在加強中以雙方在衛生社區方面的合作。
雖然“合作”這個詞聽起來很含糊，但是來自四川的龔方雪（Gong Fangxue）清楚地知道這個詞對老百姓意味什麼。
要不是有“傷口拉鍊（TopCloser）”——託帕茲在縫合大面積創傷中使用的開創性方法，龔方雪可能已經死於碩大的惡性腫瘤。
“她的病例很罕見，腫瘤非常大。通常在治療此類腫瘤時，我們必須用植皮或轉移皮瓣的方法進行復雜的手術，”託帕茲說道。
“這一次，我們使用從未進行過的方法將皮膚拉伸。”
龔方雪今年40歲，來自四川省德陽市。2009年，她發現右肩有一個腫塊突然快速腫大，之後，她被診斷患有惡性梭形細胞腫瘤。
雖然腫瘤沒有擴散到身體其他部位，但生長速度非常快。
之後的兩年內，龔方雪進行了數次切除手術，但是病情總是在治療後不久就復發，而且腫瘤長得越來越大。
龔方雪去過好多家醫院，包括北京的幾家大醫院，但它們都拒絕接收她。直到去年年底，德陽市人民醫院接收了她。那時，腫瘤已經有她的半個頭那麼大了，這使得她的頭向左傾，要扭動脖子也非常困難。更糟的是，腫瘤把皮膚撐得只有很薄的一層，血管隨時都會破裂，這可能引發大出血，甚至失血致死。
切除腫瘤是當務之急，但是腫瘤周圍附着着一些組織，所以手術時要想避免大出血十分困難，而且神經損傷可能導致她死亡或癱瘓。
手術傷口很大，如果使用傳統傷口縫合的方法，如皮瓣轉移，傷口將需要很長時間纔會癒合。而龔方雪必須快速癒合傷口，才能儘快進行放射治療，防止復發。
“爲她做手術風險很大，但我們沒有選擇，”德陽市人民醫院院長範天勇說道。
“救人是醫院的職責，即使希望非常渺茫。”
範天勇還說，幸運的是，我們醫院曾與託帕茲建立了關係。他在治療此類複雜病情方面有超凡的經驗和技術。
“看到病人照片的那一刻，我覺得我必須爲了她去一趟四川德陽的人民醫院，”託帕茲說道。
2013年12月13日，託帕茲和德陽市人民醫院的醫生一起爲龔方雪做手術。
爲時四小時的手術裏，他們小心翼翼地切除了腫瘤組織，然後用特殊的美容針線通過“傷口拉鍊”方法將現存皮膚的兩端縫合起來，消除了皮膚移植手術後的重建過程。
手術後第二天，龔方雪感到她的疼痛減輕了。兩週後，傷口癒合了，這意味着她可以進行放射治療了。現在定期的檢查顯示她正在從癌症中恢復過來。
李永忠是德陽市人民醫院燒傷整形外科主任，他說，如此大的傷口沒有進行皮瓣轉移和植皮手術就癒合了，這在全世界是第一例。
但這只是託帕茲爲加強中以醫療合作所做事情中的一個例子。
2008年，當託帕茲得知四川發生8.0級地震後，他自願到四川省的外國專家局幫助傷勢嚴重的受災者。
不久，他就到達德陽市——受災最嚴重的地區之一，捐贈了價值10萬元（約合1.6萬美元）的醫療設備和藥品，並幫忙救治病人。
他還對當地醫務專業人士進行培訓，教授先進的治療創傷的方法，這使有大面積創傷的病人痊癒得更快，同時減輕他們的病痛，減少感染和後遺症的發生。
從此，託帕茲定期到四川對當地醫務專業人士進行培訓，教授新型整形外科技術。
2011年，李永忠所在的醫院和託帕茲任職的醫院建立了緊密的聯繫。2012年，受託帕茲的邀請，李永忠和一位同事抵達以色列希勒雅法醫學中心，與當地的醫學專家一起學習研究。
在託帕茲的幫助下，德陽市人民醫院燒傷整形外科的實力呈指數型增加：從最初的2名醫生不斷往上攀升，該科系現在有17名醫生和護士。
“過去幾年裏，託帕茲教授來過德陽好幾十次，教導、幫助我們的醫生，”李永忠說道。
“他人很好，是中國人民的好朋友。”
問答
1.你與中國的故事是什麼？
這是個非常特別的經歷，九年前我第一次來中國。在那之前，我只從別人的敘述中瞭解中國，並沒有親身經歷親眼看到過。中國發展得如此之快令人印象深刻。
2.是什麼吸引你來到中國？
因爲我職業的緣故，我可以在哪裏做手術，我就去哪裏，我（爲人們）做好事。這幫助我認識很多人。我在中國很多地方都有朋友。在一場手術中遇見一名醫生，此後一生都會認得他。
3.你的人生夢想是什麼？
我的睡眠時間不多，所以我沒有很多時間做夢！我試着去做事，儘可能多做事。
4.你對“中國夢”有什麼看法？它如何與你的夢想聯繫起來？
我認爲中國夢應該是中國朝着更好的醫療、更好的教育以及更好的生活發展。中國是世界上最和平的國家之一。你們應該繼續保持，這很重要。
5.中國實現中國夢後，你會有什麼想法？這對國際社會和中國人民來說意味着什麼？
中國非常強大，在國際舞臺上佔據越來越重要的地位。你們舉辦了最出色的奧運會，在很多領域中國人的地位都在提高。
