VietNamNet Bridge – Travelling nearly 2,000 km, the heart and liver of a dead person in HCM City were successfully transplanted in two patients in Hanoi.

On September 5, the Vietnam-Germany Hospital in Hanoi performed two liver and heart transplant operations at the same time for two patients, using the liver and heart donated by a person in HCM City.

The two lucky patients are Nguyen Van Hung from Gia Lam District, Hanoi, who received the liver and the other was Vu Trung Hoa from Ba Dinh District.

Before the transplantation surgeries, the two patients were in critical condition.

Hung suffered from liver cancer and cirrhosis while Hoa was treated for critical heart disease.

By September 5 night, the two patients’ health was stable and they could breathe without the support of respiratory machines.

A member of the surgical team said the journey to take the heart and liver of the donor from HCM City to Hanoi was very dramatic as the flight was delayed for nearly one hour. However, as the organs were well-preserved, the transplant operations went smoothly.

Besides the two patients in Hanoi, the kidneys of the donor were transplanted into two patients in HCM City.

On the morning of September 4, the National Coordination Center of Organ Transplantation was informed of a dead person who donated his body for the Cho Ray Hospital, HCM City.

After finding two suitable patients, the same afternoon a group of doctors of the Vietnam-Germany Hospital in Hanoi flew to Ho Chi Minh City to conduct kidney transplant operations on two patients at Cho Ray Hospital.

At 5.30pm, doctors took the heart and liver of the donor and put them into a special box with medical solution. The box was immediately transported to the airport and it arrived in Hanoi at 11.30pm.

As the box arrived in Hanoi, the surgical team at the Vietnam-Germany Hospital completed removal of the nonfunctioning liver and heart of the two patients. The two transplant operations were conducted at the same time. At 6.30am and 7.30am of the next days, the two operations finished successfully.

This is the 25th liver transplant and the 11th heart transplant surgery at the Vietnam - Germany Hospital.

This is also the first time the donated organs were shipped from HCM City to Hanoi, the longest journey in Vietnam so far. Earlier, in July the heart and lungs of a donor were transported from HCM City to Hue.

Le Ha