Surgeons on an organ transplant at Military Hospital
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According to Thang, ever-developing technology and modern science as well as the mastery of Vietnamese doctors in other organ transplant techniques including heart, liver and kidney, together with increasing organ donations will form the foundation for the first regular lung transplanting to be performed next year.
Those with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, bronchiectasis and early stage lung cancer are all amenable to lung transplanting. Patients receiving lung transplanting had demonstrated improved quality of life and higher longevity, Thang said.
Currently, there are two types of lung transplanting based on donor source: lungs from brain-dead patients and those from living donors. In the case of living donors, there are two main techniques: taking two lower lobes from two separate donors to transplant into the recipient, or using the lower lobe from a donor.
Live lobe transplant surgery is relatively more complicated; the risk of complications to the donors is minimal, but cannot be dismissed. There’s also the need for pre-op and post-op psychological counselling for both donors and recipients.
According to Nguyen Tien Quyet, former Director of the Vietnam-Germany Hospital and a leading expert on organ transplant, by the end of 2015, Vietnamese doctors have performed 1,500 kidney transplants, 50 liver transplants, 13 heart transplants and 1 lung transplant.
In 2015, there was a case of a heart-lung transplant performed in Hue Central Hospital, however, the donated lungs had already severely deteriorated, and the 40-year-old male patient unfortunately passed away five days after surgery, even with best efforts from local and foreign experts.
Lung transplants will open up new opportunities for treating patients with early stage lung cancer or COPD – an increasingly common condition in Vietnam, because of heavy smoking or environmental pollution, Quyet said. On the bright side, with remarkable progress in recent years, the success rate of transplants is increasing, bringing a better life for patients.
When on duty, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved the setting up of a research and development centre for human organ and tissue transplants at 108 Military Hospital. The centre will be set up with state funding for scientific and technological development during the 2016-21 period, as proposed by the ministries of defence and science and technology.
Vietnamese doctors have conducted 1,500 kidney, 50 liver and 13 heart transplants so far. The first organ transplant involving a brain-dead donor was conducted at Cho Ray Hospital in HCM City in 2010. Since then, similar surgeries have been carried out at Viet Duc Hospital, Military Medical Academy and Hue Central Hospital. Organs harvested from 35 clinically-dead patients were donated to 100 other people.
