Medical miracle between life and death - Part 1: Cherishing fragile life

Editor's note: Resolution No. 72-NQ/TW dated September 9, 2025 of the Politburo on a number of breakthrough solutions to strengthen the protection, care and improvement of people's health emphasizes: "Health is the most valuable asset of human beings, the most important foundation for everyone's happiness, for the survival of the nation and the prosperous and sustainable development of the country".

On the journey to protect and improve people's health, the country's health sector has made constant efforts and achieved many miracles. Notable examples include successful heart-lung transplants; fetal heart catheterization… turning the impossible into possible, reviving lives from the brink of life and death.

In the world of premature babies, of tiny hearts that have not yet fully formed, each breath is a miracle, each moment is a thousand efforts. Silently cherishing each little creature, the “white-shirt warriors” devote all their patience, talent and love to protect and preserve every ray of life.

Protect the "tiny warriors"

On April 22, 2025, the Emergency Department of Tu Du Hospital (HCMC) was silent with painful groans. On the stretcher, Ms. NTM (40 years old) bent over, her arms tightly holding her stomach as if she wanted to prevent the twins from being born. The fetus was only 25 weeks old, "too risky" to leave the mother's womb. "Doctor... please save my baby!", she whispered, her face pale and weak. Everything was urgent and hurried. The doctor patted the mother's hand, nodded encouragingly but with hidden worry.

A weak cry rang out. Two baby boys, each weighing only 850g, were born in a hurry. The mother was exhausted and fainted. The two babies were immediately transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, where more than 200 other young babies were also fighting every hour in incubators. The ventilators were operating at maximum parameters, their small bodies were tangled with various types of tubes and breathing tubes. Every second, every minute was a fight for survival. Along with modern facilities of international standards, the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit had midwives on duty day and night. Every heartbeat, breath, skin color, and movement of the babies were captured.

Ms. Ngo Thi My Le, Head Midwife, gently massaged the baby and shared: We can “read” every little change in the baby, sometimes even before the alarm of the machine. A second early detection can help save a life.

Three days later, one baby did not survive. The mother collapsed, but still held on to hope for the remaining child. When instructed on how to hold the baby in the kangaroo method (placing the baby in skin-to-skin contact with the mother), Ms. M. trembled, hugging the weak body to her chest, her hands quickly wiping away tears so that the salty taste would not touch the baby's tender skin. But the small body suddenly turned purple and pale in her mother's arms. Doctors rushed in to perform emergency treatment...

During the next 2 months, after many consecutive emergency treatments, the baby was strongly revived, gradually weaned off the ventilator, and learned to breastfeed. On July 12, 2025, the baby boy was discharged from the hospital weighing more than 2kg, with rosy skin. "Thank you doctors, thank you for keeping my baby here," Ms. M. choked up.

Dr. Nguyen Thi Tu Anh, Head of the Neonatal Department, Tu Du Hospital, said affectionately: We call the babies “little warriors”. Because from the moment they cry at birth, they have to “fight” in their tiny bodies with immature lungs and incomplete immune systems. The challenges are endless, but we are not allowed to give up.

Mr. Vu Van Thinh (32 years old, Da Nang City) said that his son was born healthy after the first fetal intervention in early 2024. Knowing that this was a technique that had never been performed before, he and his wife were still determined to do it to give their child and themselves a chance.

Over the past two years, the boy has developed very well. This is also the most convincing answer for the family's courageous choice and the talent of the Vietnamese fetal cardiology team.

One of the “weapons” that helps increase the survival rate of premature babies at Tu Du Hospital is the first international-standard breast milk bank in the Southern region. Drops of milk donated by many mothers have become a precious “first vaccine”, helping to reduce the risk of illness and death in children fighting for their lives in incubators.

In February 2025, Tu Du Hospital officially put into operation the European-standard Neonatal Intensive Care Unit with the highest level, a milestone marking an important step forward in the journey of caring for premature babies in Vietnam. The neonatal mortality rate was reduced to below 1%, a dry number but the crystallization of sweat, tears, love and perseverance in not surrendering to fate.

Repair of arrhythmia

Along with saving fragile lives and treating premature babies' hearts, Vietnamese medicine is also reaching unprecedented limits - repairing the hearts of fetuses.

The first baby to have a heart catheterization in the womb was born on January 30, 2024. Photo: TU DU HOSPITAL

On January 4, 2024, a medical event in Ho Chi Minh City shocked domestic and international experts. For the first time in Southeast Asia, the intervention to correct a heart defect in a 32-week-old fetus by the team at Children's Hospital 1 and Tu Du Hospital was successful.

With his experienced hands, having intervened in nearly 20,000 congenital heart cases, Dr. Do Nguyen Tin, Head of the Cardiovascular Intervention Unit, Children's Hospital 1, carefully inserted an 18G needle through the pregnant woman's abdominal wall, into the fetal heart chamber to go straight to the right ventricle - where the heart was defective. The fetal heart is like a strawberry, just a small mistake can cause it to stop beating. The doctor found the position of the fetal pulmonary artery to dilate the valve.

To prepare for the 40-minute intervention that changes the fate of the fetus, two leading hospitals in Ho Chi Minh City have been “deploying their troops” for many years, training the most skilled personnel for the team. In our country, the Ministry of Health does not yet have a procedure for fetal catheterization techniques.

That was the reason why the team could not help but feel nervous. The worries were resolved on January 30, 2024, when the 2.9kg baby boy cried loudly at birth - the fetus that had been "healed" in the mother's womb a few weeks earlier.

From that first case, miracles continued to appear. In May 2025, a pregnant woman from Singapore was referred to Ho Chi Minh City by KK Women's and Children's Hospital. She became pregnant after 10 years of infertility, but unfortunately her child had a severe congenital heart disease and was at risk of stillbirth. Fetal heart catheterization was an opportunity for the whole family.

After two stressful interventions, the fetus's heart defect was successfully repaired on May 28, 2025. This miracle once again established the position of the Vietnamese medical brand on the world medical map, and at the same time inspired us to go beyond our comfort zone and conquer medical limits. By October 2025, the fetal heart catheterization team reaped sweet fruit after the 11th intervention - an important step to complete the legal documents, paving the way for this special technique to be officially recognized by the Ministry of Health.

The team of doctors performed fetal heart catheterization on a Singaporean pregnant woman on May 28, 2025 at the Hospital.
Tu Du Hospital, Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: TU DU HOSPITAL

According to statistics, the average rate of congenital heart disease is 1% of the population, about 1.5 million new cases per year globally, of which Vietnam records 12,000-15,000 new cases per year; 30% of children with congenital heart disease must undergo surgery in the neonatal period. Doctor CKII Nguyen Kinh Bang, Head of the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, City Children's Hospital (HCMC), shared: "Open heart surgery for premature, low-weight infants is an extremely big challenge, creating pressure for all surgeries".

Having performed thousands of heart “repair” surgeries, Dr. Nguyen Kinh Bang still remembers the open heart surgery for baby Nguyen Thi My Duyen (Vinh Long province), born at 29 weeks, weighing 1.7 kg and with many life-threatening cardiovascular diseases. Surgery was the only option in this case.

Entering the surgery, the little heart had to rest - stop beating completely so that the doctor could perform the repair. During this process, the extracorporeal circulation system temporarily replaced the heart and lung function. After 3 hours of tension, the moment the little heart was "perfused" with blood and beat normally again, the whole team breathed a sigh of relief.

“My Duyen just came back for a check-up. She is now 6 years old, healthy and smart,” said Dr. Nguyen Kinh Bang, his eyes shining with joy. Looking at the little girl chattering in the hospital hallway, he saw more clearly the meaning of the years under the shadowless lamp. Thousands of young hearts were successfully corrected, and thousands of children and families were able to enjoy laughter.

Every year, our country has about 100,000 premature babies (accounting for 8% of the total number of newborns). As a specialized hospital in the South, Tu Du Hospital receives more than 54,000 births each year, of which the premature birth rate accounts for 15%-17%. Babies face numerous risks from the moment of early birth and premature birth accounts for up to 45% of neonatal deaths.

KHANH CHI

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/ky-tich-y-khoa-giua-lan-ranh-sinh-tu-bai-1-nang-niu-mam-song-mong-manh-post822695.html