The Vietnam Military Medical University said its doctors have successfully performed the first heart transplantation in Vietnam.
The operation, lasting nearly two hours, gave Bui Van Nam, 48, from the northern province of Thai Binh, who has suffered from final-stage heart failure, a working heart taken from a brain dead donor.
After the transplantation, which was conducted on June 17 with support from experts from Cheng Hsin hospital, Taiwan ( China ), Nam is now in sound recovery.
The Military Medical University, which also performed the country’s first kidney and liver transplantations, has performed experimental heart transplants since August 2005.
Heart transplantation was first conducted successfully in the world in 1967 and it is regarded an effective procedure to help patients with end-stage heart failure and severe coronary artery disease live longer.
