Military Hospital 175 performs organ harvesting and transplantation from brain-dead person for the first time

On April 8, Military Hospital 175, Ministry of National Defense, Ho Chi Minh City, announced that with professional coordination inside and outside the Army, the unit successfully performed the first multi-organ retrieval from a brain-dead donor.

The activity marks an important turning point in the high-tech development strategy at Military Hospital 175, while also making an important contribution to promoting the organ transplant network in the Southern region and the whole country.

The organ donor was Mr. NTT (born in 1975, residing in Ho Chi Minh City), diagnosed with brain death due to a massive hemorrhagic stroke, with complications of severe cerebral edema.

After receiving advice from doctors, Mr. NTT's family agreed to donate his organs to help other patients. "When the doctor informed me that my husband was no longer able to recover, my family was heartbroken. But according to my husband's dying wish to donate his organs to save others, my family and I agreed to donate his organs so that a part of his body could continue to live," Ms. PTTP (Mr. T's wife) shared.

With professional support from the National Organ Transplant Coordination Center and frontline hospitals such as 108 Military Central Hospital (the unit that is transferring organ transplant techniques to Military Hospital 175), Children's Hospital 2, Hue Central Hospital, the entire professional process, from brain death confirmation, consultation, completion of legal documents to organ retrieval, was implemented urgently, seriously and in accordance with legal regulations.

Doctors at Military Hospital 175 perform organ harvesting. (Photo: VNA)

On the afternoon of April 7, despite being on the Hung Kings Commemoration Day holiday, nearly 100 doctors and nurses were mobilized to perform organ retrieval and transplantation. After a moment of silence to honor the organ donor, the doctors successfully retrieved 2 kidneys, a liver (divided into 2 lobes), a heart, and two corneas.

Two kidneys were transplanted to two patients at Military Hospital 175; the heart, liver, and cornea were transported to Military Hospital 108 (Hanoi), Hue Central Hospital, and Children's Hospital 2 (Ho Chi Minh City) for transplant to eligible patients.

Notably, for the first time, Military Hospital 175 successfully performed a kidney transplant from a brain-dead donor, although it had previously successfully performed 50 kidney transplants from living donors. This success not only has important professional significance, demonstrating the ability of the medical team to master complex organ transplant techniques, but also opens up a breakthrough development, making Military Hospital 175 one of the medical facilities capable of implementing a complete organ transplant model in the Southern region.

Major General, Doctor, Doctor Tran Quoc Viet, Director of Military Hospital 175, said that after the success of the first organ retrieval and kidney transplant from a brain-dead donor, Military Hospital 175 will continue to develop the field of resuscitation and organ transplantation, perfect the technical process, and strive to become one of the prestigious organ transplantation centers in the Southern region in the near future; at the same time, promote communication and community education on tissue and organ donation after brain death.

On the afternoon of April 8, information from the hospitals receiving the organs said that 7 transplants were successful, including 1 child patient who received a liver transplant at Children's Hospital 2 in Ho Chi Minh City. The successful transplants demonstrated the effectiveness of the inter-hospital coordination process, as well as the professional capacity of the medical team, and at the same time opened up the chance of life for 7 patients./.

(Vietnam News Agency/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/benh-vien-quan-y-175-lan-dau-thuc-hien-lay-ghep-tang-tu-nguoi-chet-nao-post1026494.vnp