A 40-year-old brain-dead patient from the northern province of Ninh Binh donated six organs, including his heart, lungs, liver and kidneys, to save five patients suffering critical illness or diseases. Those organs were successfully removed by doctors at Viet Duc Hospital, Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper reported on December 24.

The donor, Duong Hong Quy, died following treatment for broken blood vessels in the brain at Hanoi-based Bach Mai Hospital. His organs were then donated to five patients, as he wished, in Hanoi, Thai Binh, Ha Tinh, and Lam Dong, according to Viet Duc Hospital.

His lungs were transplanted into a 17 year-old boy suffering from lung failure and receiving treatment at Bach Mai Hospital. The boy was earlier not expected to survive, having reached the end-stage of the disease.

The lung transplant, which started at about 9 a.m. on December 12 at Viet Duc Hospital, the day the organs were donated, took 14 hours to complete. To date, the lung recipient is in stable condition and will be released to return home within the next three months if his recovery goes well.

The heart was transplanted into a man, 60, who had terminal dilated cardiomyopathy. He was receiving intensive care treatment at Viet Duc, awaiting a heart transplant. Meanwhile, a woman, 63, diagnosed with a liver tumor, received the liver from Quy, in addition to a 41-year-old male patient receiving one kidney.

These patients have recovered well and were moved to isolation rooms for further observation after the transplants, according to officials.

Notably, Pediatric Hospital II in HCMC has successfully transplanted the other kidney from the donor into a 15-year-old patient named Dinh Viet Huy from the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong, who suffers from end-stage kidney failure.

The National Center for Coordinating Human Organ Transplants sent the kidney to the pediatric hospital by air on December 12. The operation was carried out at 9 p.m. on the same day.

According to Doctor Trinh Huu Tung, director of the pediatric hospital, Huy has been listed in stable condition during the two weeks since the transplant and is expected to return to school in six months.

To date, Vietnam has successfully conducted 3,200 kidney transplants, 105 liver transplants and multiple other organ operations, helping many patients regain their lives.

SGT