Vietnam adds another miracle to the organ transplant map with the first simultaneous heart-lung transplant

"The past 21 days have been really stressful for us as we performed the first simultaneous heart-lung transplant. Today, the whole team has finally been relieved of stress and is very happy that in 1-2 weeks, we can return a healthy person to the family," Director of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital Duong Duc Hung emotionally shared.

The patient is recovering after a heart-lung transplant.

"Brain balance" to revive patients with heart and lung failure

Patient Tran Nhu Q (38 years old) had a history of atrial septal defect-severe pulmonary hypertension that was closed despite the atrial septal defect at Hanoi Heart Hospital in 2011, without regular monitoring, had only been taking medication for 1 year, the patient had no history of cerebrovascular accident.

The patient was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of Eisenmenger syndrome - irreversible right ventricular failure, severe tricuspid regurgitation. The patient had a history of atrial septal defect obstruction, the possibility of death was calculated in days, and there was an indication for simultaneous heart and lung transplantation despite the lack of time to treat malnutrition and the donor lung was infected with Acinetor baummani and was larger than the recipient's chest.

"The patient was hospitalized for many months. We thought this would probably be the last time the patient would be hospitalized if there was no organ transplant," Dr. Duong Duc Hung shared.

As soon as there was information that a young man had donated his brain-dead organs, doctors at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital held an emergency consultation. "The question many people have raised is, if the heart and lungs are not successful, will the chance for two other people be lost?", in response to this question, the Director of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital determined to save the patient according to the principle that whoever is more seriously ill will have priority for organ transplant.

Doctors performed a heart-lung transplant on the patient.

Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Vu Luong, Deputy Head of the Cardiovascular-Thoracic Department, Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, said that the hospital had prepared for this transplant for the past year and had the project "Lung transplant and heart-lung block" approved by the Ministry of Health .

Over the course of 7 hours, more than 40 leading experts performed a simultaneous heart-lung transplant for the patient. The experts had to use extracorporeal circulation to temporarily replace the heart and lungs for 7 hours; ensuring good function but avoiding infusing too much fluid causing pulmonary edema, using less anesthesia and using the most advanced hemodynamic monitoring equipment.

One challenge was that the donor lungs were not compatible, so the doctors had to cut both lungs to fit, connect the two main bronchi instead of the traditional trachea to better perfuse the anastomosis, and use a flexible bronchoscope during surgery to evaluate the two main bronchiole anastomoses.

After the transplant, the hospital also conducts regular multidisciplinary consultations because the patient is given strong immunosuppressive drugs but is very susceptible to infection because the lung is connected to the outside and the donor lung is already infected with multi-resistant A. Baummani bacteria, so it is necessary to balance the dose of immunosuppressive drugs (because the drugs reduce resistance).

Dr. Duong Duc Hung, Director of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, shared about the surgery.

In addition, to treat kidney failure due to many causes, the team consulted to stop nephrotoxic antibiotics and control the concentration of immunosuppressants to reduce kidney toxicity and recover after 2 weeks. At the same time, increase intravenous and digestive nutrition, clean the lungs by tracheostomy, suction endoscopy and rehabilitation exercises. The patient continued to be monitored for resuscitation after the transplant.

Looking back at the results of the first successful heart-lung transplant in Vietnam, Dr. Duong Duc Hung emotionally said: "We were able to give the patient's mother a child, give the 13-year-old son a mother, and give the patient's siblings a healthy sister. This is something we are very happy about."

Ms. Vu Thi Duc, the patient's mother, emotionally shared about her daughter's revival.

Witnessing her daughter's journey of recovery, Ms. Vu Thi Duc (65 years old) - the patient's mother choked up: "Before the transplant, my child had to stay in the hospital for 3 months, her health was very weak, she had to sit in a wheelchair and could not walk by herself. Seeing my child go into the operating room, I could only raise my hand to greet her, shedding tears without knowing what to say, not knowing if my child's transplant was successful. When the surgery was successful, I could not sleep all night. Now I am very excited. I would like to thank the hospital doctors for performing a successful surgery to give my family back a child, a mother, a sister".

Important milestone on Vietnam's organ transplant map

The success of the simultaneous heart-lung transplant for a patient with multiple organ failure has opened an important milestone, affirming the great progress of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital in the field of multiple organ transplantation, at the same time placing a milestone for Vietnamese medicine on the world map and opening up many opportunities to save the lives of critically ill patients.

This is an extremely rare case, requiring interdisciplinary coordination, applying the most advanced surgical and resuscitation techniques available today.

Heart-lung transplantation is an advanced medical technique in which the patient's heart and both lungs are simultaneously replaced with a healthy heart and two lungs from a suitable donor. This is the final treatment option for patients with both end-stage heart and lung disease, when all other treatments are no longer effective.

Dr. Duong Duc Hung, Director of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, shared about the first successful heart-lung transplant surgery in Vietnam.

Worldwide, heart-lung transplantation is rarely performed due to the need for rare organ sources, complex surgical procedures, and high risk of complications; it is indicated for cases of simultaneous heart disease and end-stage lung disease when all other treatments are no longer effective.

Common situations include: complex congenital heart disease with Eisenmenger-type pulmonary hypertension; severe pulmonary hypertension that has caused irreversible right-sided heart failure; or end-stage lung disease with irreparable left-sided heart disease. Due to the need for rare organs and the extremely complex techniques, only about 100 of these transplants are performed worldwide each year.

Thanks to advances in surgery, resuscitation and post-transplant care, outcomes of heart-lung transplantation have improved significantly. In the UK, the 90-day survival rate is around 85% and the 1-year survival rate is 72%. In the US, some leading centres such as Stanford Health Care have recorded 1-year survival rates of nearly 90%, higher than the national average. Many international reports show that the 5-year survival rate after transplantation is now around 60%, demonstrating the effectiveness of this method in prolonging and improving the quality of life for patients.

The success of the simultaneous heart-lung transplant not only marked a major step forward in organ transplant capacity, especially multi-organ transplant, but also affirmed the expertise of the Vietnamese medical team in the field of surgery. This achievement opened up new opportunities for life and treatment for patients with end-stage heart-lung disease.

Dr. Ha Anh Duc, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management (Ministry of Health) highly appreciated the excellence and remarkable progress in organ transplant expertise in Vietnam. This is the second heart-lung transplant in Vietnam but the first successful heart-lung transplant.

Dr. Ha Anh Duc, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management (Ministry of Health) spoke.

"Although Vietnam is many years behind the rest of the world, we are now confident that we can compete with the world's leading powers in organ transplants. The qualifications of our staff, the coordination of operations, and the determination of our doctors have made this success possible," said Mr. Ha Anh Duc.

Performed highest number of organ transplants and retrievals ever

In 2025, Viet Duc Friendship Hospital performed the highest number of cases of organ retrieval and transplantation from brain-dead donors ever.

Since the end of 2023 and especially in 2025, there has been a sharp increase in the number of brain-dead donors. From August 2024 to August 2025, the hospital has mobilized more than 50 cases of severe traumatic brain injury to agree to donate organs, and performed multiple organ retrieval from 34 brain-dead donors.

It is expected that in 1-2 weeks, the patient can be discharged from the hospital.

In particular, there were weeks when the hospital took multiple organs from brain-dead donors to transplant into a series of patients receiving hearts, livers, kidneys, and even patients receiving two organs at the same time (in cases of patients receiving simultaneous heart and liver transplants, simultaneous heart and lung transplants, simultaneous liver and kidney transplants).

As of August 12, 2025, there have been 2,478 cases (including heart, lung, liver, and kidney transplants) of organs transplanted from living and brain-dead donors at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, including 109 heart transplants, 8 lung transplants, 144 liver transplants from brain-dead donors, 25 liver transplants from living donors, 1,960 live kidney transplants, and 232 kidney transplants from brain-dead donors.

The number of organ and tissue donations after brain death by August 12, 2025 at the hospital is 150 cases.

In the past year, from August 2024 to August 2025, the hospital recorded a record number of cases agreeing to donate brain-dead organs, so the number of cases of multiple organ retrieval after resuscitation and brain-dead diagnosis was the highest ever.

THIEN LAM

Source: https://nhandan.vn/viet-nam-ghi-them-ky-tich-tren-ban-do-ghep-tang-voi-ca-ghep-dong-thoi-tim-phoi-dau-tien-post900432.html