Viet Duc University Hospital in Hanoi announced on August 13 that its doctors had successfully carried out the procedure for the patient from Ninh Binh Province, who was in critical condition with end-stage heart and lung failure.

When admitted more than three months ago, she suffered severe shortness of breath, required a wheelchair, and was diagnosed with Eisenmenger syndrome and irreversible right ventricular failure, with a high risk of death. Organs from a 34-year-old brain-dead male donor, who died in a traffic accident, were used for the simultaneous transplant.

Hospital director Duong Duc Hung said that after multiple consultations, doctors decided to perform a combined heart-lung transplant, a highly complex procedure, with only about 100 cases performed worldwide each year.

On July 20, a team of more than 40 doctors and medical staff carried out the seven-hour surgery. According to Pham Huu Lu, deputy head of the hospital’s Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, although donor-recipient compatibility was high, the donor’s lungs were infected with drug-resistant bacteria. They were larger than the recipient’s chest cavity. The team had to reduce lung size and connect the two main bronchi to optimise blood flow. After surgery, the patient was placed on about 40 medications and began bed-based rehabilitation.

Doctors said this is the second heart-lung transplant attempt in Vietnam but the first to succeed, offering new hope for patients with concurrent end-stage heart and lung failure. Due to organ scarcity and technical complexity, only a few centres worldwide can operate.

Ha Anh Duc, director of the Department of Medical Services Administration under the Ministry of Health, called the transplant an outstanding achievement that affirms Vietnam’s surgical capabilities. The success reunited the mother with her 13-year-old son and marked a milestone for Vietnam on the global transplant map.

International studies show that five-year survival rates after such transplants are around 60 per cent, demonstrating the method’s effectiveness in prolonging and improving patients’ quality of life.

Viet Duc University Hospital had performed 2,478 heart, lung, liver, and kidney transplants from both living and brain-dead donors as of August 12.