The Hanoi-based Military Central Hospital 108 has become the first medical facility in Vietnam and Southeast Asia to successfully perform a double forearm transplant.

The patient can move and hold things after the forearms are successfully
transplanted (Photo courtesy of the Military Central Hospital 108)

The surgery was part of multiple organ transplants the hospital conducted on September 16. 

This is the fourth time the hospital has implemented organ procurement and transplant at the same time. The organs, which were taken from a brain-dead donor, were transplanted to six patients.

The patient who received the forearm transplant is an 18-year-old man who lost his forearms three years ago due to injuries he sustained in an accidental explosion. 

Since then, he has faced difficulties in his daily life and been unable to pursue his educational dreams.

Now, nearly two months after the surgery, the patient’s wounds have healed and the limbs are adapting well. The patient is able to hold things and use a mobile phone. He still needs to undergo more physical therapy to improve his range of movement.

Dr Mai Hong Bang, Director of the Military Central Hospital 108, said the surgery was an outstanding success in the field of limb transplantation in Vietnam after the success of the first limb transplant from a live donor this January.

The hospital successfully performed five other transplants on the same day. 

A lung transplant was carried out on a 54-year-old male patient diagnosed with primary pulmonary fibrosis, a liver transplant was carried out for a patient with acute liver failure against a background of cirrhosis due to a hepatitis B virus infection and two kidney transplants were done for two separate patients with end-stage chronic renal failure.

The hospital, in coordination with the National Coordinating Centre for Human Organ Transplantation, also carried out a heart transplant for a patient with end-stage dilated myocarditis at the Hanoi-based Vietnam-Germany Friendship Hospital.

Bang said the 10-hour long surgery to transplant organs for the six patients required very close co-ordination and implementation among specialists in the hospital.

“Twelve operating tables were operating simultaneously with the participation of more than 150 doctors, nurses, pharmacists and technicians. In particular, the lung transplant case was coordinated by a team of experts from the Central Lung Hospital,” he said. 

After the transplants, all the patients are in stable health condition. The liver and kidney transplant patients were discharged three weeks after surgery, and the lung transplant patients were discharged four weeks after the procedure.