Fourteen years ago, Tran Ngoc Thanh, born in 1965, from Dien Bien, was diagnosed with terminal liver disease. His only chance of survival was a liver transplant.

In May 2010, Viet Duc Friendship Hospital conducted liver and kidney transplant operations for three patients with organs donated from a brain dead person.

This was the first liver transplant case with organs from a brain-dead person in Vietnam. Multiple organs were taken from the donor to be transplanted in many patients. Thanh was the lucky man who received the donated liver.

Thanh returned to Viet Duc Friendship Hospital in November this year for his periodic re-examination and did not think that he would meet the surgeons who performed his operation – Associate Prof Dr Nguyen Tien Quyet, former director of the hospital, and Dr Duong Duc Hung, current director.

According to Quyet, the liver transplant case was implemented by a team of the Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, without support from foreign specialists, and the time needed to carry out the transplant was just 5 hours and 20 minutes.

“The success of the first liver transplant in Vietnam from a brain-dead donor opened up great prospects for the future of patients who unfortunately suffer from serious illnesses," Quyet said.

Thanh was moved when meeting the surgeons who saved his life 14 years ago. Routine health check and tests showed that Thanh is in good condition.

Thanh said he can undertake field work and just has to take anti-rejection drugs in small doses.

“I could not believe that I would be healthy throughout these 14 years. I am grateful to the doctors who saved my life at the life-or-death moment,” he said.

To date, Viet Duc Friendship Hospital has carried out over 120 liver transplant cases, including 102 cases with livers from brain-dead donors (as of May 2024).

The successful cases reflect the high quality of medical services and transplant technique, as well as the remarkable progress of the health care system.

Associate Dr Dong Van He, director of the National Center for Organ Transplantation Coordination, reported at a workshop in mid-October that in the first nine months of 2024, organs from 25 brain-dead individuals were donated and 87 of 829 transplant cases (nearly 10 percent) were conducted with organs from brain-dead donors.

Vo Thu