At the press briefing on the brain-dead organ donor at Thong Nhat Hospital on the afternoon of November 26, Dr. Nguyen Duy Cuong - Head of the General Planning Department of Thong Nhat Hospital said that on November 17, the hospital received an 18-year-old male patient (An Giang) with severe traumatic brain injury, brain contusion, dural hematoma in a deep coma, Glasgow score 3.
Doctors performed resuscitation, intubation and consulted with specialists. However, due to the seriousness of the patient's condition, the hospital activated the unit's Organ Donation and Transplantation Association and explained in detail to the patient's family. The family agreed to donate organs when the patient was brain dead.
After 7 days of intensive treatment, when the patient's risk of brain death was near, the hospital activated the entire system to evaluate the patient's condition from legal to professional grounds by independent councils.
On November 23, experts from the National Organ Transplant Coordination Center worked with Thong Nhat Hospital to provide consultation, learn about the wishes of the patient's family, and guide them through legal procedures for organ donation.
On the morning of November 24, after the conclusion of the brain death assessment council, Associate Professor, Dr. Le Dinh Thanh - Director of Thong Nhat Hospital chaired a professional consultation with experts from the National Organ Transplant Coordination Center, Cho Ray Hospital, Viet Duc Hospital, Hue Central Hospital, and Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital. The experts agreed and decided to start the organ removal surgery at 10:45 a.m. on November 24.
Associate Professor, Dr. Le Dinh Thanh - Director of Thong Nhat Hospital said that the surgery to remove organs from a brain-dead donor was successful. 7 organ units were quickly transported to hospitals for transplant to recipients: 2 kidneys were transplanted to 2 patients at Thong Nhat Hospital, 1 heart and 1 part of the liver were transplanted to 2 patients at Viet Duc Hospital, 1 part of the liver was transplanted to a patient at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, 2 corneas were transplanted to 2 patients at Hue Central Hospital.
The Director of Thong Nhat Hospital said that one life gone has saved many other lives, improving the quality of life for many patients. This is a good and meaningful gesture.
According to Dr. Tran Cong Duy Long - Deputy Head of the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City, after the organ transplant surgery, the child patient was stable and breathing on his own.
Dr. Ninh Viet Khai - Deputy Director of the Organ Transplant Center of Viet Duc Friendship Hospital said that after the transplant, the patient's liver function was good and the breathing tube was removed. According to information from Hue Central Hospital, the patient's condition was also stable.
