For the first time, Vietnam successfully performed a simultaneous heart-lung transplant for a patient with organ failure.

On August 13, Viet Duc Friendship Hospital announced that it had successfully performed a simultaneous heart and lung transplant for a patient with organ failure. This was also the first transplant performed in Vietnam.

Doctors perform a simultaneous heart-lung transplant for a patient - Photo: BVCC

Simultaneous heart-lung transplant for patients

Previously, Viet Duc Friendship Hospital also successfully performed a simultaneous heart and liver transplant for a patient. Mr. Duong Duc Hung, director of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, shared that these are important milestones for the hospital and the organ transplant industry in Vietnam.

"This is an extremely rare case, requiring interdisciplinary coordination, applying the most advanced surgical and resuscitation techniques available today. We have achieved success like countries with advanced medicine in the world ," Mr. Hung emphasized.

The patient is Ms. Tran Nhu Q. (38 years old) with a history of atrial septal defect - severe pulmonary hypertension with atrial septal defect occlusion since 2011. However, due to lack of regular monitoring, since the beginning of the year, Ms. Q. has been hospitalized continuously with a diagnosis of Eisenmenger syndrome - irreversible right ventricular failure - severe tricuspid regurgitation/history of atrial septal defect occlusion, with the possibility of death calculated in days.

Ms. Q. was assigned to have both a heart and lung transplant. Immediately after the appointment, the doctors planned to perform the transplant as soon as an organ donor was found.

"Thanks to the widespread media coverage over the past time, many people have become more "open" when talking about organ donation after brain death. The number of brain-dead donors has increased rapidly this year.

If before, the annual average was 8-10 cases, by 2025 there were 25 cases of brain-dead donation. Therefore, after a while, a suitable donor was found and the surgery was performed," said Mr. Hung.

Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Huu Lu - Deputy Head of the Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Viet Duc Friendship Hospital - said that after receiving the transplanted organ, the doctors performed an improved heart-lung transplant technique in coordination with interdisciplinary departments from cardiology and thoracic surgery, anesthesia - resuscitation, surgery, rehabilitation, nutrition, etc.

The surgery lasted 7 hours, and experts had to use extracorporeal circulation to temporarily replace the heart and lungs for 7 hours. To ensure the heart functioned well, it was necessary to avoid infusing too much fluid causing pulmonary edema, using less anesthesia, and using the most advanced hemodynamic monitoring equipment.

Bilateral lung resection to fit, connecting the two main bronchi instead of the classic tracheal anastomosis for better anastomosis blood flow, intraoperative flexible bronchoscopy to evaluate the two main bronchial anastomoses.

After the lung transplant, the patient continued to receive immunosuppressive treatment, ultrafiltration, etc. and was monitored for post-transplant resuscitation. Nearly 4 weeks after the transplant, the patient recovered very well.

Nearly 4 weeks after the transplant, the patient is gradually recovering well - Photo: BVCC

Mr. Ha Anh Duc, Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management, Ministry of Health , said that this is a very meaningful event for Viet Duc Hospital and the health sector. He said that although our organ transplant industry is behind the world and still faces many difficulties, we have made a breakthrough.

"Lung transplant is a difficult technique and transplanting both lungs and heart is a very difficult technique. The surgery requires the coordination of dozens of doctors, nurses and technicians... The success of the surgery has given the patient a chance to continue living," Mr. Duc shared.

Vietnam conquers complex organ transplant techniques

Mr. Hung said that heart-lung transplantation is an advanced medical technique in which both the patient's heart and lungs are simultaneously replaced with a healthy heart and lungs from a suitable donor. This is the final treatment solution for patients with both end-stage heart and lung disease, when all other treatments are no longer effective.

The surgery requires high technique, coordination of many specialties and a special resuscitation and post-operative care system. Worldwide, heart-lung transplants are rarely performed due to the need for rare organs, complex surgical procedures and high risk of complications.

Surgery is indicated for cases of both end-stage heart and lung disease when all other treatments are no longer effective.

Due to the need for rare organs and the extremely complex technique, only about 100 of these transplants are performed worldwide each year. The success rate and recovery after transplants have also improved significantly. In the UK, the 90-day survival rate is about 85% and the 1-year survival rate is 72%.

In the United States, some leading centers such as Stanford Health Care record one-year survival rates of nearly 90%, higher than the national average.

Many international reports show that the 5-year survival rate after transplantation is currently around 60%, demonstrating the effectiveness of this method in prolonging and improving the quality of life for patients.

According to information from the hospital, as of August 12, Viet Duc Hospital has performed 2,478 transplants (including heart, lung, liver, and kidney transplants) from living donors and brain-dead donors.

WILLOW

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/lan-dau-tien-viet-nam-ghep-thanh-cong-dong-thoi-tim-phoi-cho-nguoi-benh-suy-tang-20250813100436874.htm