Successfully performed the 7th kidney transplant in the Mekong Delta

On January 15, Doctor - Specialist 2 Pham Thanh Phong, Deputy Director of Can Tho Central General Hospital, said that the hospital's doctors had coordinated with experts from Cho Ray Hospital (HCMC) to successfully perform the 7th kidney transplant in the Mekong Delta. The patient was Ms. LTH, 58 years old, living in Dong Thap, suffering from chronic kidney failure; the kidney donor was the patient's younger brother.

Previously, at the end of 2022, patient H. was diagnosed with end-stage chronic renal failure and was treated as an outpatient. From September 2024, the patient began regular dialysis at Can Tho Central General Hospital. After consultation, the doctors decided to perform a kidney transplant for the patient from a donor, his biological brother, using the same professional procedure as previous successful transplants.

The surgical team was led by Associate Professor - Doctor Thai Minh Sam (former Head of the Department of Urology, Cho Ray Hospital, Vice President of the Vietnam Urology - Nephrology Association) and doctors from Can Tho Central General Hospital. Using the endoscopic method, the team removed the left kidney of the donor and transplanted it into the right iliac fossa of the recipient. The kidney transplant surgery was successful after about 5 hours. During the surgery and recovery, the patient was transfused with 4 units of blood and blood products.

After the kidney transplant, the patient's paraclinical, cardiovascular, and respiratory indicators improved significantly; the surgical wound was dry, and his general condition recovered well; and kidney function test indicators almost returned to normal. Meanwhile, the kidney donor's health was also stable, and he was taken care of at home and scheduled for a follow-up visit after 7 days.

According to doctors, the technique of removing kidneys from donors by laparoscopic method is a safe, minimally invasive method, helping donors recover quickly. Kidney transplant surgery is one of the effective methods of treating end-stage chronic kidney failure, helping to significantly improve the quality of life for patients. The application of laparoscopic surgery to remove kidneys from living donors for transplantation is an inevitable trend of modern medicine, suitable for the conditions of Vietnam. This technique was synthesized by Cho Ray Hospital, selected from advanced techniques in the world and transferred to doctors at Can Tho Central General Hospital.