Steven Kahan, MD on a Mission Trip in Vietnam

Steven Kahan, MD is in Vietnam for a surgical mission through his involvement with an organization dedicated to making quality urological care available to people in developing countries.

Dr. Kahan, is spending 10 days in a 250-bed urology hospital in Saigon, Vietnam. He is traveling with a group of doctors and residents who volunteer with International Volunteers in Urology, a Salt Lake City-based organization also known as IVU Med. Dr. Kahan, is on the board of directors for IVU Med and has gone on a previous mission to India with the group.

On this trip, he is educating doctors in the Vietnamese hospital, consulting on cases as well as conducting surgical procedures as needed.

"Any expertise of techniques we can bring with us to the medical personnel over there is beneficial,"
                                                                           Steven Kahan, MD

The trip is part of IVU Med's Traveling Resident Scholar Program in which urology residents travel with board-certified mentors to work with physicians in developing countries on a variety of cases, many not often seen in the United States. Kahan is serving as mentor for two residents, Dr. Matthew Christman, from Navy Medical Center, and Dr. Thomas Will, from Loyola University Medical Center.

Some conditions that the doctors may encounter in the Vietnamese hospital include stone disease, urethral stricture from straddle injuries, and some prostate cases, according to Josh Wood, program manager for IVU Med. Often, the pathologies are encountered at a much later stage than they would be seen in the U.S. The residents will also have the opportunity to do more open surgery than they would normally do in the U.S."They also are exposed to the challenges of doing surgery in a resource-limited environment, which often inspires a certain degree of resourcefulness and conservation in the program's participants," Wood said. Dr. Kahan is looking forward to being able to bring care to those who might not have access to it without the mission program.

"This is why I went to medical school. When you go and take part in something like this, it's the purest form of medicine. Here, you have sick people and you are able to treat them based on your skill set. I'm really looking forward to being able to bring my expertise to these patients to help improve their quality of life."
                                                                          Steven Kahan, MD

IVU Med was founded in 1995 with the motto "teach one, reach many," and is dedicated to making available surgical care that will improve the lives of children in developing countries. To further its mission, the group provides treatment to thousands of children, as well as surgical education to doctors and nurses. The group has sponsored more than 175 missions in 20 countries around the world. The organization aims to introduce new surgical practices and techniques which can be sustained in the countries it visits.