Vietnamese Doctors Perform Rare Heart Transplant on 11-Year-Old Using Kansas City Donor

Doctors at University Medical Centre HCM City have carried out a rare heart transplant on an 11-year-old child. The surgery took place on February 23, 2023, using a heart from a brain-dead donor in Kansas City. This marks the hospital's ninth successful heart transplant of this kind.

The donated heart was flown from Bạch Mai Hospital in Hà Nội to Chicago in the early hours of February 23. It arrived at 3:45am, and surgeons immediately began the procedure. By 4:45am, the child's new heart was beating inside their chest.

The young patient had been suffering from end-stage heart failure before the operation. After the transplant, their initial recovery in intensive care was described as positive. Doctors continued to monitor their condition closely in the following days.

Prof Dr Nguyễn Hoàng Định, the hospital's deputy director, later confirmed that two heart transplants had been performed in the same week. The medical centre has now completed a total of 214 organ transplants, including 97 kidneys, 108 livers, and nine hearts. All heart transplants at the facility have used organs from deceased donors, as live donations are not medically possible for this procedure.

The successful surgery adds to the hospital's growing experience in complex organ transplants. The child remains under observation as their recovery progresses. This case also highlights the critical role of donor organs in saving lives.