Tu Du Hospital, in collaboration with Children’s Hospital 1, has successfully performed its 11th fetal cardiac catheterization — a milestone paving the way for the Ministry of Health to officially include fetal heart intervention in Vietnam’s catalog of recognized medical techniques.
The information was shared by Dr. Tran Ngoc Hai, Deputy Director of Tu Du Hospital, at the recent international symposium titled “Cardiovascular and Neurological Abnormalities Before 13 Weeks of Gestation.”
According to Dr. Tran Ngoc Hai, Tu Du Hospital records between 4,000 and 5,000 pregnancy terminations annually, many due to fetal abnormalities. However, early detection of congenital defects, especially before 13 weeks of gestation, remains a major challenge. The deputy director revealed that previously, most abnormalities were identified around 22 weeks, but now doctors can detect them before 13 weeks — a revolutionary breakthrough in prenatal medicine.
As the leading obstetrics and gynecology facility in Southern Vietnam, Tu Du Hospital has adopted numerous advanced techniques, including preoperative 3D imaging, hysteroscopic procedures, early congenital anomaly screening, immunohistochemistry, and molecular biology applications — all of which enhance diagnostic speed and accuracy.
Most notably, fetal intervention — considered the most advanced procedure in obstetrics — is being progressively mastered in Vietnam. Since 2017, Tu Du Hospital has performed fetal endoscopic surgeries and remains the only hospital nationwide to have successfully conducted 35 intrauterine blood transfusions.
The hospital also serves as a regional hub, overseeing prenatal screening and technical guidance for 14 southern provinces. This network aims to detect fetal abnormalities early at the local level and reduce the number of congenital cases in the community caused by regional disparities in healthcare capacity.
Over the past five years, Tu Du Hospital has recorded 5 million outpatient visits, more than 490,000 inpatient cases, over 202,000 surgeries, and 276,000 births. The hospital’s maternal mortality rate remains exceptionally low — just 3 per 100,000 deliveries.
