Ho Chi Minh City (VNA) – Doctors at the University Medical Centre Ho Chi Minh City have successfully performed a heart transplant from a brain-dead donor, saving the life of a 11-year-old child suffering from end-stage heart failure.
The surgery was carried out in the early morning of February 23 (the seventh day of the Lunar New Year), marking the hospital’s ninth heart transplant from a brain-dead donor.
At 4pm on February 22, the hospital received information from the National Organ Transplant Coordination Centre about a suitable donated heart at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi.
The hospital immediately activated the emergency heart transplant procedure. In just over an hour, a team of cardiovascular surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and technicians departed for Hanoi.
Many medical staff returned to the hospital after the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday upon receiving the deployment order, ready for the heart transplant surgery.
The donated heart was transported to Ho Chi Minh City at 3:45am on February 23 and the heart transplant surgery was performed immediately afterward.
At 4:45am, the heart began beating again in the recipient’s chest. The initial post-operative progress was favourable and the child continued to be closely monitored in the intensive care unit.
Prof Dr Nguyen Hoang Dinh, deputy director of the hospital, said the hospital has performed two consecutive heart transplants in the past week.
To date, the hospital has performed 214 organ transplants, including 97 kidney transplants, 108 liver transplants, and nine heart transplants./.
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