Another heart transplant saves life in central Vietnam
Tuesday, February 04, 2025, 13:19 GMT+7
Doctors at Hue Central Hospital in Hue City, central Vietnam have successfully performed another heart transplant, saving the life of a 41-year-old man who had been suffering from end-stage heart failure.
The hospital on Monday announced the successful discharge of N.T.T., its 15th cross-country heart transplant patient, who is a native of the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai.
T. had been diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy and end-stage heart failure.
Dilated cardiomyopathy is a type of heart muscle disease that causes the heart chambers to thin and stretch, growing larger.
His condition had not improved despite treatment, and he had been waiting for a heart transplant.
Financial difficulties compounded his struggle. He worked as a coffee picker, while his wife managed a small business, and eight years of battling heart disease had drained the family’s savings.
The life-changing opportunity arose on January 13 when the Vietnam National Coordinating Center for Human Organ Transplantation informed the hospital that a matching donor heart had become available from a brain-dead patient at Ho Chi Minh City University Medical Center.
Upon receiving the news, Prof. Pham Nhu Hiep, director of Hue Central Hospital, immediately activated the hospital’s emergency heart transplant protocol.
A specialist surgical team was swiftly deployed to Ho Chi Minh City to retrieve the donor heart and transport it back to Hue.
By 2:30 pm on January 14, the donor heart began beating inside the recipient’s chest.
According to hospital leaders, the patient was extubated 13 hours after the procedure with stable blood flow.
Remarkably, his cardiac function rebounded, with his ejection fraction improving from a critical 22 percent to 60 percent within two weeks, offering him a renewed chance at life and a better quality of living.
Dr. Hiep expressed deep gratitude to the donor and their family, acknowledging their selfless and compassionate decision to save another life.
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