Children's Hospital 2 resumes liver transplants after 8-month suspension

According to the announcement made on the morning of June 26 by Children's Hospital 2, doctors performed a liver transplant on a boy (11 years old, from Binh Dinh) with congenital biliary atresia, who had undergone Kasai surgery - a treatment method for cases of bile duct atresia in the hilum of the liver since he was 1 month old. After more than 10 years of treatment, the boy developed severe cirrhosis. Liver transplant surgery is the last resort for this child.

It is known that this child patient underwent a liver transplant taken from the mother. The liver transplant team for this child patient was doctors from Children's Hospital 2 with the support of the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City in the process of taking the liver from the donor.

Children's Hospital 2 liver transplant after 8 months of surgery 1 — Doctors perform an organ transplant at Children's Hospital (Photo: BVCC).

This is also the first liver transplant in 8 months (from October 2022 to the end of May 2023) at Children's Hospital 2. The reason for the delay in liver transplants is due to waiting for the organ transplant appraisal project and lack of organ sources for transplant.

In addition, doctors at Children's Hospital 2 also face difficulties with professional certificates related to adult organ transplants, a small number of operating rooms, and a lack of human resources to ensure the provision of many specialties.

Children's Hospital 2 has also just built two modern organ transplant operating rooms. The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health will support the appraisal of Children's Hospital 2's independent pediatric organ transplant project. The project will then be submitted to the Ministry of Health for appraisal and approval so that these two operating rooms can be put into operation soon. It is expected that when the project is approved, Children's Hospital 2 will be able to perform liver transplants for 3 children per month, while previously it could only perform 1 transplant per month.

After the liver transplant this morning, it is expected that on June 30, Children's Hospital 2 will continue liver transplant surgery for a child who also has congenital biliary atresia, receiving a liver donated from his biological mother.

Previously, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health also requested the Board of Directors of Children's Hospital 2 to comply with regulations but not to interrupt liver transplants for children with transplant indications. Specifically, Children's Hospital 2 continues to perform organ transplant procedures with the support of organ transplant specialists from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital and Cho Ray Hospital.

Doctors from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Hospital and Cho Ray Hospital will support Children's Hospital 2 in terms of organ donations from adults. Doctors from Children's Hospital 2 will still perform liver and kidney transplant procedures for children as they have done for over 10 years.

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