First medical facility in Hà Nội performs multiple organ retrieval from brain-dead donor

Doctors and nurses spend a minute’s silence to honour and thank the organ donor. — Photo courtesy of the hospital

HÀ NỘI — A brain-dead patient, killed in a traffic accident donated his organs, including two kidneys, a heart, a lung, a liver and two corneas.

They were transplanted into six individuals all suffering from life-threatening illnesses.

The 32-year-old man, named N.Đ.T, and living in Đông Anh District, Hà Nội had an accident on the night of August 22. His family took him to the local district general hospital for emergency treatment from where he was transferred to Saint Paul General Hospital.

He was hospitalised, in a deep coma, with many serious injuries, including a hematoma in the abdomen and pelvis. Test results showed that he had suffered severe damage to the skull and cervical spine.

His condition progressively worsened and early morning on August 23, doctors conducted a clinical assessment and reported that he was brain dead.

After three thorough and detailed examinations by leading experts, the final results confirmed that the man could not survive.

The hospital’s organ donation mobilisation team approached his family to explain the patient’s condition and share the meaning of organ donation to save lives. Facing the pain of great loss, the family decided to donate their loved one’s organs to bring life to other patients.

On August 24, under the coordination of the National Organ Coordination Centre, the patient’s organs were taken and transferred to five separate medical facilities to perform immediate organ transplants for patients waiting for organ transplants.

With the support of experts from Việt Đức Friendship Hospital, two kidney transplants at Saint Paul General Hospital were performed simultaneously. The two kidney recipients were an elderly man who has had kidney failure since 2012 and a 42-year-old woman with kidney failure who has been undergoing dialysis since 2020.

Two corneas were transferred and transplanted to two patients at the Central Military Hospital 108 in Hà Nội, while the liver was transplanted to a patient at Việt Đức Friendship Hospital.

The heart was transferred by plane to HCM City to be transplanted into a 20-year-old male patient at Hồ Chí Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital. It was the first time the hospital had performed a heart transplant, after more than four years of training and preparation.

“Saint Paul General Hospital is the first medical facility in Hà Nội to perform multiple organ retrieval from brain-dead donors. This is also the first time Saint Paul Hospital has implemented a kidney transplant for two cases at the same time with the support of experts from Việt Đức Friendship Hospital,” said Director of Saint Paul General Hospital, Nguyễn Đức Long.

With this success, Saint Paul Hospital will be able to have an additional list of organ transplant techniques for patients with end-stage kidney failure.

Saint Paul Hospital has performed kidney transplants since 2013. This technique has become a routine activity, but for the first time, this medical facility has had an organ donation from a brain-dead donor. — VNS