Illustrative image (Source: VNA)HCM City (VNA) – After nearly 10 hours of operation, doctors at the Children’s Hospital 2 in Ho Chi Minh City successfully conducted its 10th pediatric liver transplantation on October 4.
The patient was Nguyen Vo Tri Hao, 13 months old, with the liver donated by his father Nguyen Thanh Hiep, 38 years old.
Doctor Pham Ngoc Thach, Deputy Director of the hospital said the father and his child were stable after the surgery.
The child will have a follow-up examination for bacterial infections in the next week, he added.
Forty doctors from the Children’s Hospital 2 and other hospitals in the city were engaged in the surgery. Two experts from Belgium’s Saint-Luc University who implemented the first liver transplantation at the hospital returned for the procedure.
Statistics show that 80 to 85 percent of transplanted livers function well after one year.
The hospital began performing pediatric liver transplants in 2005. Each surgery costs around 500 million VND (22,500 USD), excluding post-treatment and examination costs. The total bill could amount to 1.5 billion VND (67,500 USD), Professor Tran Dong A of the hospital said.
A major problem facing Vietnam is a lack of organ donation, especially pediatric liver donation, he said, adding that the country does not allow the use of organs from brain-dead children.
The liver is the only internal organ in the human body that can regenerate. The donor’s liver could re-grow within two or three months after donation.-VNA
