Surgeons at the Vietnam-Germany Friendship Hospital perform the simultaneous heart-lung transplant on a patient with multiple organ failure. (Photo: Vietnam-Germany Friendship Hospital)

This is a breakthrough in multi-organ transplantation for the hospital and will help save many more critically ill patients.

Director of the Vietnam-Germany Friendship Hospital, Dr. Duong Duc Hung, said: "The patient’s heart conditions, which had been left untreated for a long time, caused issues in her lungs. She could not have made it without a transplant. We have doctors and nurses experienced in anesthesia and resuscitation, and were confident in our ability to carry out a heart-lung block transplant. But we’d also like to thank the media for their help in raising public awareness, which led us to a compatible donor." 

There are only about 100 heart-lung block transplants worldwide each year, due to a shortage of organ donors, the operation’s complexity, and a high risk of complications.