The Ho Chi Minh City Medicine and Pharmacy University’s Hospital on August 23 announced that it successfully saved the life of a 16-month-old baby girl having her heart lying outside the thorax cavity.

This is the first case successfully operated in Vietnam so far, the hospital said, adding the rare disease is affecting only 150 patients in the world.

The baby girl, from the southern province of Binh Duong, was diagnosed with heart disease before she was born. She was then monitored in the Ho Chi Minh City Medicine and Pharmacy University’s Hospital from June this year.

She received her first surgery in June 26, 2015 to fix deformity inside the heart, with the involvement of doctors and experts in various specialities.

On June 29, she was operated for the second time, during which her heart was put into the thorax. She was discharged from the hospital on August 3 after showing good recovery.

The success showed an advance in cardiology surgery of Vietnam in comparison with many countries in the region and the world.-VNA

VNA