HCMC Children’s Hospital No.1 announced on March 20 that it had successfully carried out the hospital’s first kidney transplant.
The transplant recipient was K.T.P., a 14-year-old from Dong Nai Province, who had been diagnosed with end-stage chronic kidney failure of unknown cause.
P. was first diagnosed in June 2025 after presenting symptoms of facial swelling and scattered skin bruising. After emergency dialysis, the patient was treated with peritoneal dialysis to replace kidney function at HCMC Children’s Hospital No.1.
Hoping to save her son from the disease, N.T.P.V., 39, volunteered to donate one of her kidneys. After a series of specialized tests and careful preparations, the transplant was successfully performed on March 5 following a six-hour surgery.
The surgical team included Associate Professor, MD, and PhD Thai Minh Sam, Vice President of the HCMC Urology and Nephrology Association and former Head of the Urology Department at Cho Ray Hospital.
To date, patient P. has made a full recovery, while the mother’s health has also stabilized.
According to Dr. Le Thanh Hung, Head of the Urology and Nephrology Surgery Department at HCMC Children’s Hospital No.1, the hospital had spent considerable time preparing professionally, mobilizing personnel, and completing legal procedures, and had received authorization from the Ministry of Health to conduct kidney transplants.
However, the hospital only proceeded with the transplant program after newly built facilities and a modern operating theater system meeting required standards were put into operation. This success is expected to create more opportunities to save children with end-stage chronic kidney disease.
In reality, for many years in HCMC, pediatric kidney transplants have mainly been performed at HCMC Children’s Hospital No.2 and the University Medical Center HCMC. Organ transplantation in children still faces numerous barriers and challenges.
