Special surgery: Surgeons remove kidney, 'repair' it, then transplant it back into patient

Doctors at the 108 Military Central Hospital have just successfully performed a special surgery, removing a patient's kidney that was at risk of having to be removed to recreate blood vessels, then transplanting the kidney back into the patient.

Doctors at 108 Military Central Hospital perform surgery on a patient - Photo: BVCC

According to the 108 Military Central Hospital, this is the first recorded case performed in Vietnam.

The patient is a 37-year-old woman from Phu Yen (old) who discovered a large aneurysm in her left renal artery after experiencing prolonged lower back pain. When she had previously visited many major hospitals in the South, she was advised to have her kidney removed to avoid the risk of the aneurysm rupturing.

Not wanting to lose her kidney, she went to Dr. Ngo Vi Hai - Head of the Department of Thoracic Surgery, 108 Military Central Hospital - to find another treatment option. After examination, the doctor determined that the aneurysm was in a difficult position, right at the kidney's hilum, where there are many important blood vessels. If the intervention is not done properly, the risk of losing the kidney is very high.

Doctors have come up with a solution to remove the kidney from the body, treat the external aneurysm, and then transplant the kidney back into the patient.

Dr. Ngo Vi Hai said that with such location and level of damage, placing a stent is not feasible, and repairing the aneurysm while the kidney is still in the body is almost impossible. Therefore, the optimal solution is to remove the kidney, reconstruct the blood vessels and transplant the kidney back.

The surgical team consisted of two groups of specialists: urology and vascular surgery. First, the diseased kidney was removed by laparoscopic surgery. Then, the doctors reconstructed the renal artery using the patient's own vein, thoroughly treating the aneurysm. When the reconstruction was completed, the kidney was reimplanted into the ipsilateral iliac fossa.

Dr. Nguyen Viet Hai - Head of the Department of Upper Urology, 108 Military Central Hospital - said: "We only have 20 - 30 minutes to protect the kidney when it is not perfused with blood. Every operation must be precise and quick.

We also decided to remove the diseased kidney from the abdomen by laparoscopic surgery, bringing the kidney out through the left iliac fossa. And also took advantage of the incision of the left iliac fossa as the position to insert the transplanted kidney after revascularization."

After nearly 4 hours of surgery, the transplanted kidney was functioning well, with stable blood circulation. The patient recovered quickly, was able to walk on his own, and did not need to take anti-rejection drugs because this was an autologous kidney transplant.

This is the first case in Vietnam to successfully perform this technique, and there are only very few similar cases reported in the world .

Doctors said the success of the surgery was the result of a coordinated effort between many specialists. More importantly, it opened up the opportunity for many other patients to preserve their kidneys, instead of having to remove them.

WILLOW

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/ca-mo-dac-biet-bac-si-mo-lay-than-ra-ngoai-sua-chua-roi-ghep-lai-cho-nguoi-benh-20251010161905178.htm