Reverse the trend of organ transplants, please?

organ transplant - Photo 1.

Doctors at Children's Hospital 2, Ho Chi Minh City, handle a piece of left lobe liver after removing it from the donor's body - Photo: Provided by the hospital

Meanwhile, in the world , 50-80% of organ transplants come from deceased donors.

Recently, many families with brain-dead relatives have made a noble gesture of donating organs to save the lives of many other patients.

One dead person can still save many lives

In just over a month, with 2 cases of brain-dead organ donation, 3 hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City, Gia Dinh People's Hospital, Military Hospital 175 , and Children's Hospital 2, for the first time performed kidney and liver transplants from brain-dead donors.

Although Military Hospital 175 had previously performed nearly 50 successful kidney transplants, thanks to this organ donor, for the first time Military Hospital 175 performed a kidney transplant from a brain-dead donor. Similarly, also from this organ donor, it was not until the 50th liver transplant that Children's Hospital 2 was able to perform a liver transplant for a child from a brain-dead donor for the first time.

Dr. Tran Thanh Tri, head of the hepatobiliary-pancreatic and liver transplant department at Children's Hospital 2, said that Children's Hospital 2 has been performing liver transplants for children since 2005, but only recently has the hospital performed liver transplants for children from brain-dead donors.

"The coordination of liver harvesting and transplantation is similar to harvesting and transplantation of a living donor's liver, the only difference is the distance, which is not too far, and with the support of the organ harvesting unit and the traffic police team, it went quite smoothly," Dr. Thanh Tri informed.

Potential organ sources

Associate Professor Thai Minh Sam, Cho Ray Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, said that currently Vietnam transplants kidneys for about 1,000 people/year. However, the demand for kidney transplants is still very high as there are about 90,000 people on dialysis. The current problem is that in Vietnam, kidney transplants are mainly from living donors, while organs from brain-dead or heart-dead people... only account for about 5%. In the world, 50-80% of organ transplants are from deceased donors.

Dr. Du Thi Ngoc Thu - head of the human organ transplant coordination unit, Cho Ray Hospital, said that not every patient with organ failure has a family member who can donate organs for transplant, especially organs such as the heart, lungs... can only be received from brain-dead or circulatory-dead donors.

In more than a month in Ho Chi Minh City, there were 2 brain-dead organ donors and 3 hospitals in the city performed kidney and liver transplants for the first time from brain-dead donors, which is a good sign. There are more and more wishes to donate organs and tissues when unfortunately passing away from the patients themselves and their families, which will give the patients a chance to be saved.

After organ transplantation, patients return to normal activities, improve their quality of life, can go to work, contribute their abilities and talents to society and their families. On the other hand, relatives can go to work, increase their income... and especially the cost that the State has to pay for post-transplant treatment is only 1/3 or 1/5 of the cost of paying for chronic diseases that never go away.

Currently, Ho Chi Minh City has 9 organ transplant centers, mainly kidney and liver transplants, with the majority of transplants coming from living donors.

The technique of receiving donated organs from living donors or from brain-dead donors is equally complicated. However, when the source of donated organs is taken from living donors, it must be ensured that it does not affect the health of the donor after the organ donation. However, in the long term, the possibility of kidney and liver failure due to new diseases after organ donation is not impossible. Therefore, for the safest, experts still encourage the development of organ donation and transplantation programs from brain-dead or circulatory-dead donors.

Communication in organ donation programs from brain-dead or circulatory-dead donors is inseparable from the development of a country's transplant program.

Organ donation brings life to many people

According to Major General Tran Quoc Viet, Director of Military Hospital 175, the current demand for organ transplants is very large, while the number of donors is still very modest. Organ transplants are a professional matter, but organ donation is a humanitarian act, a social matter - of people who are willing to give a part of their body to bring life to others...