The first cross-kidney transplant in Vietnam was successful

On February 7, Cho Ray Hospital officially announced the successful implementation of the first cross kidney transplant in Vietnam for 2 girls from the stepfather and mother of two patients.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Thai Minh Sam - Head of Department of Urology, Cho Ray Hospital - said that 2 female patients are Ms. Le Thi Anh Hong (31 years old, house in Kien Giang) and Ms. Vu Thi Hue (32 years old) , houses in Dak Nong). Both patients have end-stage chronic renal failure and must have dialysis for a long time in Cho Ray Hospital.

Mrs. Hong was offered a kidney by her stepfather, and Hue was donated by her mother to save her child. However, when going to Cho Ray hospital to carry out the tests, both cases cannot transplant each other's kidneys because of the antibody of the recipient against the donor's antigen. If these two couples perform kidney transplants, the risk of transplant rejection and death is very high.

The doctor of Cho Ray Hospital performed a cross-kidney transplant.(photo: BV).

Fortunately, all 4 donors received and received the same blood type B. Therefore, the doctors of Cho Ray Hospital persuaded their family members to proceed with the exchange of kidneys. The kidneys of her stepfather Hong will transplant for Ms. Hue and vice versa, her mother's kidney will be transplanted to Mrs. Hong. On January 11, 2017, about 20 doctors in Cho Ray Hospital divided into 2 êkip conducted 2 parallel cross kidney transplant surgeries for Ms. Le Thi Anh Hong and Ms. Vu Thi Hue. The transplants took place successfully. After nearly a month of transplantation, the health of two kidney transplant pairs is stable, the kidney function of donors and recipients is normal.

According to Dr Thai Minh Sam, cross-transplantation is a method to help perform kidney transplants in cases of not having the same blood type , recipients have antibodies against donors ' antigens. The world's first cross-kidney transplant method was performed in 1991 in Korea. Currently, this method is being used by many kidney transplant centers around the world. Every year, the world has thousands of cross-kidney transplants. Technically, crossover kidney transplantation is not too difficult. Even in developed countries, doctors have conducted cross-continental kidney transplants. For example, the kidneys of US donors were transplanted to recipients in France and brought kidneys to France for transplantation in the United States.

Doctor Thai Minh Sam (right cover) and two female patients have a kidney transplant.(photo: KQ).

However, in Vietnam so far has not been implemented because it is difficult to find compatible couples like this. Through the success of cross-transplantation kidney surgery, doctors expect to expand cross-transplantation between couples requiring kidney transplantation in the future so that more people with kidney failure can transplant.