Chợ Rẫy doctors transplant 4 organs from brain-dead girl

HCM CITY – Doctors at the Chợ Rẫy Hospital in HCM City have successfully performed organ transplants for four patients from an 18-year-old girl rendered brain-dead by a traffic accident.

The hospital announced on Thursday afternoon that the surgeries were conducted on May 29.

It was the first time that Chợ Rẫy Hospital doctors had performed a heart transplant and the second time they were doing a liver transplant, thanks to technology transfer from the Việt Đức Hospital in Hà Nội, a leading institution for surgery in Việt Nam, and South Korea’s ASAN Medical Centre.

The organ donor was a traffic accident victim from the southern province of Đồng Nai, who was hospitalised 10 days earlier in critical condition after a traffic accident, hemorrhaging badly.

After a few days, she was comatose with the prognosis of imminent death. Her family then agreed to donate her organs to help needy people.  

Director Nguyễn Trường Sơn and a team of the hospital’s organ transplant board selected the organ recipients and arranged surgery teams.

Four transplants were performed on a single day. Two kidney transplant cases were completed at 9pm and 11pm, the heart transplant at 10pm and the liver transplant at 5am the day after.       

Doctors said the organ recipients were under supervision and in a stable condition.

The kidney functions of the two recipients had almost returned to normal, while those receiving the heart and liver transplants weren’t using the endotracheal tube, they added.

Congratulating the doctors, Deputy Health Minister Lê Quang Cường said internal organ transplant was one of the most important achievements of Việt Nam’s health sector in recent years.

The first kidney transplant in Việt Nam was conducted on June 4, 1992 at the 103 Military Hospital in Hà Nội. — VNS