Nearly five months after Vietnam's first simultaneous heart-liver transplant, Mr. Dinh Van Hoa has returned to a life almost like a normal person. He can help his wife and children with chores that anyone could do, such as sweeping and cleaning the house.
This past Tet holiday, Mr. Hoa was still cooking rice and wrapping banh chung (traditional Vietnamese rice cakes). His family was very happy because at the end of September 2024, they had lost all hope when doctors predicted that Mr. Hoa only had hours to live.
The 42-year-old man is the first case in Vietnam to receive a simultaneous heart and liver transplant. The surgery, which took place at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital ( Hanoi ) in October 2024, went down in the history of organ transplantation, partly because it was a very difficult case with a critically ill patient, marking a significant step forward for Vietnam's organ transplantation industry in its more than 30-year journey.
Mr. Hoa was admitted to the hospital in a very critical condition; his liver had completely failed and had lost all function, he had a blood clotting disorder, and all injections resulted in bleeding. His heart was severely failing, and his heartbeat was barely sufficient to maintain his blood pressure.
At that time, both Mr. Hoa's heart and liver required mechanical support; his heart needed a cardiopulmonary bypass machine, and his liver used a dialysis machine to replace its normal function.
"Without an alternative solution, it would have been impossible to save the patient within about 6 to 12 hours," recalled Dr. Duong Duc Hung, Director of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital.
Therefore, when the final stitches of the simultaneous heart-liver transplant were closed, 8 hours later the patient's heart started beating for the first time again, the liver turned pink and began to function, secreting bile, and the doctors in the operating room erupted in joy.
Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan visits Mr. Hoa eight days after his simultaneous heart and liver transplant. Photo: Provided by the hospital.
Nearly half a year into his new life, Mr. Hoa remains deeply moved, only able to express his gratitude to the Vietnamese doctors and the family of the organ donor.
Nearly three decades of realizing the dream of organ transplantation.
The world began researching organ transplantation in the early 20th century, but the first successful kidney transplant was not performed until 1954. In 1963, the first liver transplant was performed, and the first successful liver transplant was in 1967.
In Vietnam, the idea of fetal organ transplantation originated in the 1960s at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital. At that time, Vietnamese medicine lacked equipment, facilities, medicines, and personnel, but Professor and Academician Ton That Tung, then Director of the hospital, researched organ transplantation and successfully performed transplants in animals in 1965-1966.
Professor Ton That Tung's wish was to perform liver and kidney transplants in the 1970s. However, at that time, the entire country had to focus its human and material resources on the resistance war, and then there were the difficulties of the post-war period, so Professor Tung's scientific aspirations and his dream of saving lives, along with those of the doctors, had to be temporarily put on hold.
Nevertheless, with strategic vision, Professor Ton That Tung sent surgical teams to study abroad, preparing a workforce for organ transplantation. At that time, organ transplantation was just a dream for the medical community and Vietnamese patients who unfortunately suffered from organ failure and needed replacement therapy.
It wasn't until the late 1980s and 1990s that the organ transplant program was re-established.
June 4, 1992 marked a historic day for Vietnam's organ transplantation industry when the first kidney transplant was performed at Military Hospital 103 in Hanoi. The patient was Major Vu Manh Doan, 40 years old (at the time of the surgery), suffering from end-stage renal failure. The kidney donor was his 28-year-old younger brother.
The meeting to prepare for the first kidney transplant at the Military Medical Academy in 1992 (left photo) and the first intestinal transplant in Vietnam in 2020. Both cases were supported by foreign experts. Photo: Military Hospital 103, Military Medical Academy.
In this first organ harvesting and transplant case, leading professors from Bach Mai Hospital, Viet Duc Hospital, Hanoi Medical University, Military Central Hospital 108, Military Hospital 103, and the Military Medical Academy all participated, with support from experts from Taiwan (China).
More than a year later, in July 1993, Vietnamese doctors independently (without assistance from foreign experts) performed a kidney transplant on a 33-year-old patient in Tuy Hoa, with the donor being his 42-year-old sister.
Organ transplantation is no longer a dream. The incredible advancements in our country's medicine have opened the door to a new lease on life for thousands of patients desperately fighting for survival.
Number 1 in Southeast Asia for the number of transplant cases.
"The organ transplantation industry in Vietnam started relatively late compared to the rest of the world, but we have made very rapid progress," Dr. Duong Duc Hung commented.
By 2012, Vietnamese doctors had performed over 600 organ transplants, primarily kidney transplants. In the three years from 2010 to 2012 alone, nearly 300 kidney transplants were performed with good results. By the end of 2023, the number of transplants had exceeded 8,300.
Doctors at Viet Duc Hospital during a simultaneous heart-liver transplant surgery, October 2024. Photo: Viet Duc Hospital provided.
According to Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan, over the past 33 years, Vietnam has performed more than 9,500 organ transplants. For the past three years (2022-2024), Vietnam has been the number one country in Southeast Asia in terms of the number of organ transplants each year (over 1,000 cases). Kidneys are the most frequently transplanted organ in Vietnam (accounting for over 84% of transplants).
In the early years, the number of facilities performing organ transplants could be counted on the fingers of one hand, such as Military Hospital 103, Cho Ray Hospital, Viet Duc Hospital, Hue Central Hospital, and Military Hospital 108, etc. Today, there are 27 organ transplant centers nationwide. Among them, prominent names include Military Hospital 108, currently the number one liver transplant center in Southeast Asia, and Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, which has successfully performed multiple organ transplants simultaneously.
Not only has the number of organ transplant centers in central hospitals increased rapidly, but dozens of provincial hospitals have also adopted and implemented similar programs, adding their names to Vietnam's organ transplant map.
Dr. Ha Anh Duc, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management (Ministry of Health), said that every week, the unit receives applications for organ transplantation from provinces in the lowlands or remote mountainous areas.
Professor Pham Gia Khanh, President of the Vietnam Transplant Association, stated that while organ transplantation in Vietnam lagged behind the rest of the world by more than 40 years, it is now 20 years ahead of the current standards. This not only provides a chance of survival for tens of thousands of patients but also affirms the position of Vietnam's healthcare sector.
Confident in your own business, proud to share.
Dr. Duong Duc Hung shared that in the early years of organ transplantation, Vietnamese doctors were sent abroad to learn organ harvesting and transplantation techniques, and then brought those methods back to Vietnam to apply.
But now, not only are Vietnamese doctors independently performing kidney, heart, and liver transplants, but they are also adapting their techniques to suit the changing needs. Dr. Hung said that at major international conferences held in France, when Vietnamese doctors reported on their ongoing organ transplant activities, their foreign colleagues were very surprised. They even scheduled visits to observe.
“They said, ‘ We are learning from you .’ This shows that we are now able to exchange ideas and discuss on an equal footing with foreign colleagues, instead of always playing the role of students,” Dr. Hung said, adding that this is something to be proud of.
From the first kidney transplant in 1992, a case jokingly referred to by experts like Professor Pham Gia Khanh as "wearing rubber sandals on a spaceship" (a phrase by Lieutenant General Pham Tuan), to the present day, major organ transplant centers in Vietnam have continuously set records and memorable milestones.
In 2020, during the 16 days in mid-September, doctors from the Cardiovascular and Thoracic Center, along with their colleagues at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, successfully performed four heart transplant surgeries, notably two of which took place on two consecutive days.
This was an unprecedented record at the time. The two transplant surgeries were only a few hours apart, each lasting over 10 hours. The team had just finished the previous surgery, and only had time to rest and eat on the spot before starting the next one.
The doctors' joy at that time wasn't about how many transplants they had performed, but rather that heart transplant techniques had become routine, and organ transplants could take place at any time of day. This demonstrated the hospital's strength and readiness to perform complex techniques, something unimaginable 10-15 years earlier.
More than four years after that record, Viet Duc Hospital and many organ transplant centers have added new milestones, such as the case of Mr. Dinh Van Hoa mentioned above. Or, in early 2025, in just six days (from January 6-11, 2025), Viet Duc Friendship Hospital successfully performed organ transplants for 15 patients from four brain-dead donors (four heart transplants, one simultaneous liver-kidney transplant, three liver transplants, and seven kidney transplants).
Of the more than 9,500 organ transplants performed nationwide over 33 years, Viet Duc Friendship Hospital contributed nearly one-third. Dr. Duong Duc Hung modestly used the word "normal" when talking about the organ transplant work here. In reality, the doctors at this leading surgical hospital in Vietnam have made reforms, innovations, and updated with scientific advances, helping to improve the quality of organ transplants.
For example, previously, the average time for a liver transplant from a brain-dead donor was about 12-14 hours, but now, doctors at Viet Duc Hospital have modified the technique to be more suitable and effective by incorporating more machinery, instruments, and equipment. As a result, the transplant time has been shortened to 4-5 hours.
With the anesthesia time shortened by 4-5 hours, the patient's condition after transplantation is significantly improved. This helps reduce the rate of liver transplant patients having their endotracheal tubes removed directly on the operating table or requiring less blood transfusions after only 6 hours post-transplant.
Thanks to this, doctors can now perform more surgeries on more critically ill patients, which they were previously hesitant to do. Currently, Viet Duc Hospital has expanded its indications, not only increasing the number but also improving the quality of transplants. As a result, post-operative recovery time is shortened, less medication is used, and costs are reduced. "It's a double benefit," Mr. Hung emphasized.
Vietnamnet.vn
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/ghep-tang-viet-nam-tu-giac-mo-den-dinh-cao-2375382.html
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