The first person in Vietnam to receive a simultaneous heart and liver transplant

This person was admitted to Viet Duc Hospital at the end of September and was kept alive by an artificial heart-lung machine (ECMO). "The only way to save the patient's life is to replace both the heart and liver at the same time," Dr. Duong Duc Hung, Director of Viet Duc Hospital, said on the afternoon of October 9.

At the same time, Viet Duc Hospital received information from Nghe An General Hospital, a satellite hospital, about a patient with severe brain injury and no longer expected to live. The patient's family wished to donate organs.

A Viet Duc team went to Nghe An to help resuscitate the patient, assess the brain death status and the condition of the organs (in case organs could be retrieved). At noon on October 1, doctors determined that the patient was brain dead and his organs could be used for transplants to other patients.

At the same time in Hanoi, a meeting of the professional council was convened with experts in the fields of Resuscitation, Cardiology, Liver, and Kidney. This was a challenging surgery, requiring consideration of situations because the patient's liver, heart, and kidneys were all in a very severe stage of failure, with a high risk of death. During the meeting, many opinions said that a transplant was not possible because the patient's condition was too severe, while another group requested that only the heart or liver be transplanted, not both at the same time, Dr. Hung recounted.

However, the hospital's Scientific Council decided to proceed with the transplant at the same time. A group of Viet Duc doctors stayed behind to help Nghe An General Hospital perform two kidney transplants at the same time, while the remaining group quickly transported the recovered organs to Hanoi. After more than three hours of travel, the organs arrived at Viet Duc Hospital.

The donor's heart and liver were transplanted into the recipient's body. After 8 hours of surgery, the transplanted heart began beating again. After 36 hours, liver and heart functions gradually recovered. "The new heart has completely replaced the damaged heart, liver functions are gradually improving. The patient was extubated and is conscious," said the Director of Viet Duc Hospital.

Currently, after more than a week of transplantation, the patient can talk, heart function improves every day, liver function has almost returned to normal, and bile is secreted with good quality.

"This is the first time in the history of Vietnamese medicine that doctors have successfully performed a simultaneous heart and liver transplant on a special patient in a severe stage," said Associate Professor Nguyen Tien Quyet, former Director of Viet Duc Hospital and a leading expert in organ transplantation, adding that "Vietnam can completely master the techniques, especially the most difficult techniques in organ transplantation."

Organ and tissue transplantation is the final treatment for people with serious illnesses caused by organ tissue failure and irreversible damage such as chronic kidney failure, liver failure, heart failure, bone marrow failure, corneal failure, etc. As of the beginning of this year, after 32 years of organ transplantation and 14 years of organ harvesting from brain-dead donors, hospitals nationwide have performed more than 8,000 transplants. Of these, about 80 heart transplants were successful, mainly conducted at Viet Duc Hospital.