Doctors at Huế Central Hospital performing the heart transplant. — VNA/VNS Photo

THỪA THIÊN-HUẾ — Doctors from the Huế Central Hospital successfully conducted two kidney transplants in HCMC last Saturday morning, before travelling over 1,000km back to Huế to perform a heart transplant that afternoon. 

Dr Trần Hoài Ân, director of the Cardiovascular Centre, Huế Central Hospital said that on May 5, a team of experts from the hospital performed a kidney transplant for Nguyễn Tri Phương Hospital in HCM City.

On the same day, they also received news that Huế Central Hospital would receive a heart from the National Center for Coordination of Organ Transplantation to conduct a heart transplant for their patients.

Dr Ân said they immediately planned to both ensure the support of the kidney transplant and at the same time to ensure the process of receiving the heart on time.

The time of taking the heart almost coincided with the time of surgery for two kidney transplants at Nguyễn Tri Phương Hospital, so the team of experts had to divide human resources to perform.

At 10.47 am on May 6, the heart was taken from the chest of a brain-dead organ donor at Gia Định People's Hospital, HCM City and reached Huế city safely at 1.32 pm on the same day, with support from the national carrier Vietnam Airlines.

Luckily, the 37-year-old patient met all the suitable indicators to receive the heart, doctors said. 

After one hour and 20 minutes of surgery, the heart of the brain-dead donor beat again in the recipient's chest.

"This is a special case when a kidney transplant is performed in the morning in HCM City, and a heart transplant in Huế in the afternoon. The two locations are 1,000km apart," Dr Ân told Sức khỏe & Đời sống (Health & Life) newspaper. 

"Our stress and fatigue were all released when we saw the donor's heart beat in the recipient's chest. We burst into tears of joy."

According to the hospital, this was the ninth heart transplant from a brain-dead donor performed at the Huế Central Hospital by their doctors.

The operation lasted one hour and 20 minutes and was on a 37-year-old patient with end-stage heart failure from Quảng Bình Province.

On the afternoon of the same day, the patient's health was stable after a successful heart transplant from a 19-year-old brain-dead donor.

Dr Phạm Như Hiệp, director of Huế Central Hospital, said this heart transplant set two new records, including the shortest time from taking and moving the heart to when the heart beats again and the shortest operation time.

Chairman of the People’s Committee of Thừa Thiên–Huế, Nguyễn Văn Phương, on Monday presented a certificate and a reward of VNĐ100 million to the team that performed the special transnational heart transplant at Huế Central Hospital.

He pointed out that the success of the heart transplant reaffirms the position and prestige of the province in medical matters. — VNS