On 23/2, representatives of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital announced that simultaneous organ transplants were performed on the 6th day of Lunar New Year using organs from a brain-dead donor. The four recipients included an 18-year-old male student with total heart failure, a 48-year-old man with liver cirrhosis due to hepatitis B, and two young men, aged 23 and 27, suffering from chronic kidney failure.

The donor, a 21-year-old man, was admitted to the emergency room in critical condition following a traffic accident. Despite extensive medical intervention, he did not recover and was declared brain-dead. In a profound act of compassion, his family chose to donate his tissues and organs, offering a lifeline to those facing imminent death.

Doctors pay tribute to the donor before performing the organ retrieval and transplant. Photo: Thao My

Immediately after receiving the donated organs, the hospital mobilized multiple surgical teams for the complex transplants. The young man's heart was given to the 18-year-old student, who had been relying on a pacemaker and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to survive. One day post-transplant, the recipient's hemodynamic parameters showed good progress. He continues to receive intensive care, mechanical ventilation, and ECMO support, with plans for gradual weaning in the coming days.

The donor's liver provided a new beginning for the 48-year-old man, who had lived with hepatitis B-induced liver cirrhosis for three years without treatment. The two kidneys were successfully transplanted into the 23-year-old and 27-year-old men, both of whom required regular dialysis for end-stage kidney failure. All three liver and kidney transplant patients are currently in stable condition.

This case marks one of the first brain-dead organ donations of 2026. Since 2010, Vietnam has recorded nearly 270 brain-dead organ donation cases. Notably, during the 2024-2025 period, the number of donations from brain-dead individuals nearly doubled compared to all previous years combined. This increase is attributed to the dedication of hospital advocacy teams and a growing openness among families towards organ donation.

Vietnam currently leads Southeast Asia in the number of organ transplants, being the only country to sustain over 1,000 transplants annually since 2022. Despite this, the supply of organs from brain-dead donors remains limited compared to the actual demand. To address this, the Ministry of Health is drafting amendments to the Law on Donation, Retrieval, and Transplantation of Human Tissues and Organs. These amendments aim to refine the legal framework and expand the donor pool, offering increased chances of survival for thousands of patients on the waiting list.

Le Nga