2023-09-20 08:00:05
When Franck Dufourmantelle was treated at the burn treatment center at Saint-Louis hospital in Paris, 95% of his body suffered third-degree burns. The chemical technician turned into a human torch following the explosion of a can at his workplace in September 2016. According to doctors, his chances of survival do not exceed 1%. Until Professor Maurice Mimoun, director of the center, learned that Franck has a monozygotic twin, Eric, and that their skin is compatible. Eric’s donation, which will have 50% of his skin taken, will save his brother. The intervention, particularly risky and complicated, required special authorization from the Biomedicine Agency. Several times, vital alerts seemed to call everything into question. The success of the operation was hailed by the medical community: it was a world first.
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An internationally renowned surgeon, Maurice Mimoun has devoted himself to severe burns for more than thirty years, after having been trained at the Saint-Louis hospital by his mentor, Professor Baux, from whom he took over. Today, he is struggling to find interns ready to take over: “I have spent my entire career motivating plastic surgeons to devote themselves to serious burn patients. Currently, I also take care of children with burns at Trousseau hospital in Paris. There is a shortage of doctors, forming teams is complicated. » According to Professor Mimoun, the interns are discouraged by “the thankless side of this surgery, which requires a lot of investment and is carried out in the hospital”.
However, he insists, burn surgery is also ” very beautiful “. It is practiced in a team, with intensivists, physiotherapists, psychologists, or even dieticians. It requires action over the long term, to support the physical and psychological work of reconstruction, but also quickly, during the acute phase of first aid. Professor Mimoun went to Vietnam this summer to put his technique at the service of local surgeons and teach restorative procedures to help burned children: “We see cases that we no longer find in France: patients crawling, elbows stuck to the body. When serious burn victims are not taken care of immediately, and with real teamwork, the after-effects can be formidable. »
“Search for fame”
Like Professor Mimoun, young people who are interested in burn surgery are passionate. Jean-Sébastien Barbier, 27, talks with detail and enthusiasm about his daily life as an intern at the Saint-Louis hospital in Paris. It describes the rooms dedicated to severe burns, which transform into an operating theater without having to move the patient and limit the risk of infection as much as possible, since dressings, treatments, grafts or surgical interventions are carried out in the same room. . He tells about the “red telephone” located in the resuscitation station: “As soon as there is a fire, explosion or other disaster, the SAMU control station calls us. »
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