Doctors at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital performed a liver transplant. — Photo courtesy of the hospital

HÀ NỘI — Việt Đức Friendship Hospital has successfully carried out 21 organ transplants within a single week, marking one of the country’s largest multi-organ transplant campaigns to date.

The hospital announced on May 26 that the operations were conducted between May 18 and 23.

Of the 21 transplant cases, 19 used organs donated by three brain-dead donors following the consent of their families.

The transplants included five liver operations, among them two paediatric patients, two heart transplants, one lung transplant and 10 kidney transplants.

The hospital also performed three additional kidney transplants using organs from living donors.

According to the hospital, the achievement reflects the growing professional capacity of Việt Nam’s transplant sector, as well as strong organisational coordination between medical teams and the national organ transplant coordination network.

The hospital said the campaign also demonstrated increasingly professional transplant coordination procedures and effective multidisciplinary cooperation in handling a large number of complex operations within a short period.

The patient received a kidney transplant from a brain-dead donor. — Photo courtesy of the hospital

During the transplant campaign, the hospital successfully carried out a range of complex procedures involving heart, lung, trachea, liver and kidney transplants.

Surgical, anaesthesia, resuscitation, post-transplant, laboratory and imaging teams worked day and night continuously to ensure organs were preserved and transplanted within the golden time for patients.

In lung transplantation, the hospital reported significant advances in surgical and anaesthesia techniques, helping reduce operating times and treatment costs. Notably, the campaign marked a breakthrough in lung transplantation as specialists at Việt Đức Friendship Hospital, for the first time in Việt Nam, applied laryngeal mask anaesthesia to lung transplant patients.

According to the hospital, the technique minimises airway invasiveness, reduces the risk of respiratory complications and supports faster post-transplant recovery, representing a major step forward in anaesthesia and resuscitation for advanced organ transplantation.

One of the highlights of the campaign was the hospital’s role in coordinating inter-hospital efforts to optimise the allocation of donated organs.

Alongside simultaneously performing a large number of transplants within a short period, the hospital also continued routine kidney transplant operations and emergency procedures involving organs from brain-dead donors.

During the process, the hospital coordinated and shared organ resources with the National Children’s Hospital for paediatric transplants, while urgently transporting heart transplant patients from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital in HCM City to Hà Nội by air to optimise organ preservation time and improve survival chances.

In addition to its coordination efforts, the hospital continued providing professional support and transferring kidney transplant techniques to Tâm Anh General Hospital, helping expand the national organ transplant network and strengthen treatment capacity nationwide. — VNS