VietNamNet Bridge – The Hanoi-based Central Pediatrics Hospital on June 19 conducted an urgent liver transplant surgery for a 2-year-old girl from Thai Binh without help from foreign experts.

50 children a year need liver transplants in Vietnam

The patient, Pham Thi Mo, was taken to the hospital’s emergency ward on June 17. The baby had fainted due to liver failure. Her liver was failing, leading to toxins accumulating in the baby’s body.

Before the operation, doctors filtered blood for the baby. By the afternoon of June 18, toxin concentration had reduced, but the baby still swooned and was in a critical situation.

The situation continued getting worse. The hospital’s director, Dr. Nguyen Thanh Liem decided to perform an urgent liver transplant operation to save the baby at 4.30 p.m., June 19. At that moment, the baby was suffering from bleeding in her ears, lungs and trachea.

“So far, all liver transplant operations at the hospital have been carried out with assistance from foreign experts. But we couldn’t wait for foreign experts,” Dr. Liem said.

The operation took place within 12 hours. The liver donor is the girl’s mother.

Dr. Liem said this was a special operation because the patient was operated in a critical situation. The hospital had performed six liver transplant operations before this case, and all of them were for chronic patients, so doctors had ample time to prepare for the operations. Moreover, this instance was the first time the procedure had been fully covered by Vietnamese doctors.

The doctor said around 30 children die annually at the hospital because of unexpected liver failure without being operated soon enough. The operation is considered a new stride of the local medical sector.

Babies often suffer from unexpected liver failure due to medicine poison or various viruses. In this case, liver failure was caused by an overdose of paracetamol.

The baby has been recovering from the operation. Her liver has started working and she can breathe on her own.

The doctor will cover all of the fees for the operation, around 600 million dong (over $30,000).

PV