VietNamNet Bridge - Two years have elapsed since the first multi-organ transplant surgery was conducted in Vietnam, but  Lt. Gen. Hoang Manh An, director of Military Hospital 103, the main surgeon who carried out the historic operation, still sounds tense when speaking about it.

Mr Phan Thai Huyen

On March 3, 2014, the Military Hospital 103 carried out a multiorgan (pancreas and kidney) transplant surgery, the first of its kind in Vietnam. This was praised as historic progress in Vietnam’s healthcare development, which showed Vietnam’s organ transplant technology was coming closer to the world’s level. 

Vietnam had previously only performed single-organ transplants.

The patient chosen for the operation was Phan Thai Huyen, who suffered from diabetes with complications to the kidney. He had biological indicators suitable to the organ donor.

Two years have elapsed since the first multi-organ transplant surgery was conducted in Vietnam, but  Lt. Gen. Hoang Manh An, director of Military Hospital 103, the main surgeon who carried out the historic operation, still sounds tense when speaking about it.

The transplant surgery lasted 13 hours, from 3 am of February 28 to 4 pm of March 1. Two days later, Huyen recovered consciousness. 

“As the patient recovered consciousness, we could say that the operation technically succeeded,” An said. The hospital then organized a press conference. 

However, An and other doctors had to keep a close watch over the patient. 

“On the fifth day after the transplant operation, side effects began appearing. An effusion occured,” An recalled. 

An and his colleagues, after examining the patient, came to the conclusion that the newly transplanted pancreas was inflamed and it had inflamed the old pancreas. 

“We treated the problem intensively, and consulted with colleagues in the US and Japan about how to treat this case,” An said.

The patient’s conditions got better. However, they suddenly became worse again in the fourth months after the operation. 

“It was dangerous. The inflammation might cause death because of contamination, ” he said.

An then was worried because if the first transplant surgery failed, Vietnamese surgeons would only dare to think of carrying out another surgery after a long time.

An and his colleagues had to spend five months watching the patient before they could come to the conclusion that the patient had recovered. 

The patient was then informed of the good news that he did not have to take medicine to treat diabetes and renal failure any longer, and honly had to take immunosuppressive drugs prescribed for organ transplant patients.

The doctors at Hospital 103 are now preparing for the second multiorgan transplant operation.

Le Van