66 liver transplants conducted in Vietnam

• Saint Paul Hospital conducts first kidney transplant in 2017
• Vietnam successfully marks 1,400 organ transplants

The International Conference on Living Donor Liver Transplantation, which took place in Ho Chi Minh City on February 18, were organized by Cho Ray Hospital in collaboration with the Vietnam Society Of Organ Transplantation and the Living Donor Liver Transplantation Study Group.

At the conference, Prof. Pham Gia Khanh, head of the Vietnam Organ Transplant Association again emphasized, liver transplantation is the most effective treatment for patients suffering from liver diseases, such as congenital biliary atrophy, end-stage liver cirrhosis , liver cancer, drug-induced liver failure or liver failure caused by hepatitis type B or C.

Doctor conducting liver transplant at Cho Ray Hospital.

“Since the first liver transplant in Vietnam in 2004, 66 Vietnamese people’ lives have been saved by liver transplantation.  Among them, the oldest patients was a 74-year-olds man while the youngest was only 7 months old when the transplants were performed”, Prof. Pham Gia Khanh said and added, the average number of 5-6 liver transplants per year is too small.

According to the President of the Vietnam Organ Transplant Association, Vietnam is lagging 40 years and 20 years behind the world and region, respectively, although the country has now mastered modern techniques of liver transplantation from developed countries.

“The process of liver donation, reception and transplantation now can be conducted at difference hospitals as Vietnam now has 5 organ transplant centers across the country,” said prof. Khanh.

The Head of the Vietnam Organ Transplant Association then revealed that the Vietnamese liver transplantation sector has so far made important progress as its centers have successfully transplanted a liver, which was donated by a brain-dead person and transported from Cho Ray hospital, Ho Chi Minh City, on a patient in Hanoi. 

The success of organ transplants in Vietnam has brought hope to patients who suffer terminal organ failure, while it has helped speed the development of other medical branches.

However, the country’s transplant industry is facing a severe shortage of organ donors, even as the demand is enormous and rising rapidly.