Young brain-dead donor saves 4 lives during Tet transplant surgeries in Vietnam

The operations were carried out on Sunday, the final day of the Tet holiday, as medical teams worked through the night to transplant vital organs from a single donor.

While many families were still gathering to celebrate the start of the year, doctors and nurses remained in the operating rooms, racing against time to preserve life.

The donor, a young brain-dead man from Hung Yen Province, provided one heart, one liver, and two kidneys, giving four critically ill patients a second chance at life.

Doctors said each transplant required hours of intensive coordination and absolute precision across multiple medical specialties.

Strict operating room protocols were maintained despite the holiday, with every step carefully timed and executed.

Medical staff described the successful surgeries as not only a technical achievement but also a powerful expression of compassion.

The heart recipient is an 18-year-old male patient with severe end-stage heart failure, with an ejection fraction of just 17 percent.

He had been diagnosed with myocarditis, dilated cardiomyopathy, and life-threatening arrhythmia, and had previously required temporary pacing as well as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) circulatory support.

One day after the transplant, he remains in intensive care with stable hemodynamic indicators while continuing ECMO support and mechanical ventilation.

Doctors said that if his condition continues to improve in the coming days, life-support devices will be gradually withdrawn, marking the next stage of his recovery.

The liver transplant was performed on a 48-year-old man with cirrhosis caused by hepatitis B, diagnosed three years ago but left untreated.

On his first day after surgery, he is under close monitoring at the hospital’s Center of Anesthesia and Surgical Intensive Care, with early indicators showing stable progress and the transplanted liver beginning to function.

Two patients with end-stage chronic kidney disease also received transplants from the donor.

One recipient, a 23-year-old man, has a significant family history of kidney disease, as his mother has undergone regular dialysis for 14 years due to chronic glomerulonephritis.

He was diagnosed with the same condition at age 10 and received long-term conservative treatment, but his illness progressed to stage V kidney failure in June 2024, requiring regular dialysis.

On his first day after the transplant, he is conscious, breathing independently, and maintaining blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) at 100 percent while awaiting further blood test results.

The second kidney recipient, a 27-year-old man, was diagnosed with end-stage kidney failure in February 2025 and had been undergoing dialysis three times a week.

Following surgery, his condition is stable. He is fully conscious, breathing independently, and maintaining SpO2 at 100 percent.

He is expected to be transferred to the transplant center for continued monitoring and treatment.