Doctors at the University Medical Centre Ho Chi Minh City perform a heart transplant on a patient. (Photo published by VNA)
Between December 31 and January 4, two cases of organ donation following brain death in Ho Chi Minh City helped save lives and restore sight for 13 patients, highlighting the deep humanitarian significance of organ donation.
Most recently, University Medical Centre HCM City successfully performed two simultaneous transplants, a heart and a liver, using organs donated from a brain-dead patient at People’s Hospital 115.
The heart was transplanted into a 61-year-old man who had lived with dilated cardiomyopathy for more than a decade and had progressed to end-stage heart failure, for which transplantation was the only treatment option. At the same time, a liver transplant was carried out for a 16-year-old patient with advanced chronic liver disease that had deteriorated into end-stage cirrhosis and acute liver failure, posing an immediate threat to life.
On the night of January 4, medical teams at University Medical Centre HCM City raced against time to complete the two transplants. In addition, another portion of the donated liver was transferred to the National Children’s Hospital for transplantation into a paediatric patient, while two corneas were allocated to Hue Central Hospital.
Earlier, on December 31, People’s Hospital 115 also recorded a case of organ donation after brain death. With coordination by the Vietnam National Coordinating Centre for Human Organ Transplantation (VNHOT), eight organs from the donor were distributed to transplant centres nationwide, benefiting patients in critical need. These included one lung, one heart, two kidneys, two livers and two corneas.
Notably, one donated heart was transplanted into a 15-year-old boy with end-stage heart failure at University Medical Centre HCM City, offering him a renewed chance at life./.