Two families exchange kidneys to save lives of their girls

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The operations were special as each girl of the two was transplanted a kidney donated by the other family member.

Assoc. Prof Thai Minh Sam, head of the Cho Ray Hospital's Urology Ward said both the girls had been in a critical condition before the transplant. Although their parents were willing to donate kidneys to them, doctors realized the risk of transplant rejection if they had been transplanted kidneys from their family members.

On January 11, two operations on the two kidney donors were conducted from 8am to 11am while two transplant operations on the two girls were started at 2pm the same day.

The doctors of Cho Ray Hospital then discovered that the body of each of the girls could be well compatible with the kidney of the other family’s donor.

After explained about the issue by the doctors, the two families agreed to swap their donor organs to save their girls.

On January 11, two operations on the two kidney donors were conducted from 8am to 11am while two transplant operations on the two girls were started at 2pm the same day.

The two kidneys functioned normally after only 2 days of operation, and the two patients were returned home after 7 days. After nearly a month, both the patients have recovered and they both have come back to normal life.

The two girls meeting with doctor of the Cho Ray Hospital's Urology Ward.

According to the head of Cho Ray Hospital's Urology Ward, such a case was performed for the first time in South Korea in 1991, and many countries then followed.

Thanks to the organ donation swap technology, patients can have more chance to be cured, Assoc. Prof Thai Minh Sam said.

The first kidney transplantation operation was performed successfully in the world in 1954 while doctors in Vietnam conducted the first successful kidney transplant from living donor in 1992.