Heart transplant across Vietnam completed in 10 hours

The University Medical Centre in Ho Chi Minh City has announced a major medical achievement—the successful completion of its first heart transplant. The heart, donated by a young man in Hanoi, was transported across the country and transplanted into a recipient in Ho Chi Minh City. The entire process, from the moment the heart was harvested in Hanoi until it began beating again in the recipient's body, took just 10 hours.

The recipient is a 37-year-old man from Gia Lai province with a rare blood type and a diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy, which had left his heart in critical condition.

Upon learning of the organ donation, including the heart, from the young man who had died in a serious traffic accident in Hanoi, a team from the University Medical Centre immediately traveled to Hanoi to retrieve the donor's heart at Saint Paul General Hospital.

The team departed Hanoi with the heart at 8:00 PM on August 24, carefully protecting it with the support of hundreds of medical staff, and the cooperation of various agencies throughout its journey across Vietnam to Ho Chi Minh City.

The heart transplant surgery lasted five hours, beginning at midnight on August 24 and concluding at 3:00 AM on August 25.

The recipient is now awake, and the donated heart is beating in its new body.

This transplant was particularly challenging due to the recipient's high pulmonary artery pressure and the risk of heart failure post-surgery, making the recovery process difficult.

Nevertheless, the doctors successfully completed the transplant within about 10 hours.

This remarkable cross-country heart transplant also marks the first such procedure performed at the University Medical Centre in Ho Chi Minh City./.