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| A liver transplantation team from ASAN Medical Centre and the HCM City University Medical Centre successfully performed the first living donor liver transplant at the HCM City University Medical Centre. Photo courtesy of the HCM City University Medical Centre |
Viet Nam News
HCM CITY — A 50-year-old patient who received the first living donor liver transplant by doctors at the HCM City University Medical Centre, with medical assistance from South Korean’s ASAN Medical Centre, is recovering well more than a month after surgery.
The male patient received a portion of a healthy liver taken from his 33-year-old wife, who has a blood type compatible with that of her husband, according to doctors at the centre.
The man had serious liver disease, including cirrhosis of the liver, hepatitis B and early stage liver cancer that had not spread to other parts of his body, Trần Công Duy Long, deputy head of the hospital’s hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery department, said.
The man had only six to 12 months to live, and liver transplantation was the only cure.
On June 16, nearly 50 surgeons and nurses, including 11 from a liver transplantation team at ASAN Medical Centre, performed an eight-hour operation, using a 50-60 per cent portion of the liver from the donor.
The donor was discharged from the hospital one week later, and her health condition is now stable, Long said.
The liver transplant recipient has resumed normal activities after one month of recovery.
After transplantation, the partial livers of both the donor and recipient will grow and remodel to form complete organs, according to Long.
Doctors will frequently check his health for the first year after the transplant.
This year, the hospital will continue to work with ASAN Medical Centre to perform other liver transplant cases, Long said. — VNS
