The difficult surgery was jointly carried out by doctors from the Vietnam National Children’s Hospital and the 108 Military Central Hospital in Hanoi.
The baby girl hailing from Hanoi was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma, a very rare malignant tumor, in her 11th month after birth, according to Dr. Nguyen Pham Anh Hoa, head of the Hepatology Department and Dr. Bui Ngoc Lan, head of the Oncology Department of the National Children's Hospital.
Despite her undergoing six courses of chemotherapy and embolization, the patient’s tumor was still growing rapidly, posing a high risk of metastasis. Meanwhile, the healthy part of her liver is too small, making it impossible to cut the cancerous part of the organ.
After consultations between the two hospitals on May 25, Associate Prof. Dr. Tran Minh Dien, Director of the National Children's Hospital decided to conduct a liver transplant to save the girl.
The donor is her mother, a 41-year-old woman.
Dr. Le Van Thanh, head of the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery at the 108 Central Military Hospital said that despite the complicacy of the operation, experienced doctors from the two hospitals managed to perform it successfully on May 29.
The girl recovered two weeks later and was discharged from the hospital. This is the first successful liver transplant for a child suffering from liver cancer in Vietnam, opening up hopes for children suffering from the disease.
Regardless of the technical difficulties and the shortage of human resources, blood and blood products in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pediatric liver transplant surgery was successful.
Earlier on January 21, the 108 Central Military Hospital signed an agreement on liver transplant training and technology transferring with the National Children's Hospital. The operation took place only several months after the agreement.
