Doctors repair kidney outside the body and successfully transplant it back to the patient

Doctors at the 108 Military Central Hospital have just performed a rare surgery: removing a kidney from the body to "repair" an aneurysm and then transplanting it back in.

Doctors repaired the kidney outside the body and successfully transplanted it back into the patient. Photo: BVCC

Keep the kidney that was thought to have to be removed

The patient is a 37-year-old female from Dak Lak , admitted to the hospital with persistent left lower back pain. According to the patient, about 2 months ago, the patient had left lower back pain, sometimes with spasms, no spread, no fever. The patient went to many large hospitals in the South and was diagnosed with a giant aneurysm of the left renal artery at the renal hilum and was indicated for nephrectomy.

Through imaging diagnosis, doctors discovered a giant aneurysm nearly 5cm in size at the left kidney hilum, in which the blood vessels supplying the kidney all originated from the aneurysm - making endovascular intervention with a stent impossible.

“This aneurysm caused pain, signaling a high risk of rupture and requiring urgent treatment. However, the location of the injury makes it impossible to reconstruct the renal artery within the body,” said Dr. Ngo Vi Hai, Head of the Department of Thoracic Surgery. “The only solution is to remove the kidney, reconstruct the blood vessels, and then re-implant it – an extremely complicated technique.”

“This aneurysm has caused pain, signaling a high risk of rupture and requiring urgent treatment. However, the location of the injury makes it impossible to reconstruct the renal artery within the body,” said Dr. Ngo Vi Hai, Head of the Department of Thoracic Surgery, 108 Military Central Hospital.

“The only solution is to take the kidney out, recreate the blood vessels, and then transplant it – an extremely complicated technique,” ​​Dr. Ngo Vi Hai shared.

Combining two specialties, the surgery lasted 4 hours

To preserve the kidney, the surgical team, consisting of doctors from the two departments of Upper Urology and Vascular Surgery, consulted and decided to perform laparoscopic surgery to remove the kidney, reconstruct the blood vessels outside the body, and then re-implant it into the pelvis. During the reconstruction process, the aneurysmal part of the artery was replaced with an autologous saphenous vein.

Dr. Nguyen Viet Hai - Head of the Department of Upper Urology, 108 Central Military Hospital - shared: "The time of kidney ischemia must not exceed 30 minutes. Therefore, we must coordinate closely to both regenerate blood vessels and protect the kidney according to the correct kidney transplant technique."

The nearly 4-hour surgery went smoothly. After the transplant, kidney function recovered well, and ultrasound showed stable blood flow. Notably, because this was an autologous kidney transplant, the patient did not have to take anti-rejection drugs.

The patient is now recovering well and is able to walk and perform normal activities. In the world , such complicated renal artery aneurysm treatment cases are rare; in Vietnam, this is the first successful case.

According to Dr. Ngo Vi Hai, this success represents a breakthrough in treatment thinking and demonstrates the power of interdisciplinary coordination. It opens up a new direction in kidney preservation for patients with complex vascular injuries.

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/bac-si-sua-than-ben-ngoai-co-the-ghep-lai-thanh-cong-cho-benh-nhan-post297485.html