Vietnam Doctors Perform High-Risk Liver Transplant on 11-Month-Old Baby at Vinmec Hospital
A baby girl in Vietnam has been given a second chance at life after a record-breaking liver transplant. Vinmec Times City International Hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam, has successfully carried out a very complicated liver transplant surgery.
Thien Di, the baby girl, was born in November 2024, and she was just 40 days old when her parents observed her skin turning yellow. She was born with a rare liver disease called biliary atresia. This is a condition where the bile ducts are blocked, causing severe liver damage.
At 3 months old, the baby underwent Kasai surgery, which is a technique to “open the bile ducts” to allow the liver to continue functioning. However, the disease could not be stopped with her first surgery. Her liver worsened, and her health became very critical.
In October 2025, at 11 months old, the patient weighed only 5.3 kg, equivalent to a 3-month-old baby, and was brought to Vinmec Times City Hospital for examination. This wasn’t an ideal weight for a baby of her age. Doctors said she would not survive without a liver transplant.
Associate Professor Dr. Le Van Thanh, Deputy General Director of the Surgery Department at Vinmec Healthcare System, who directly performed the surgery on the patient, stated that liver transplantation for malnourished children weighing only 5-6 kg presents a significant challenge in terms of vascular and biliary anastomosis techniques.
The surgical team had to take extra care to reconnect tiny blood vessels and bile ducts, and to control bleeding and other complications. The operation lasted more than 12 hours and needed doctors, anesthesiologists, and intensive-care specialists working together closely.
In adults, the liver can regenerate, so her mother donated a part of her liver for the transplant. But doing this for a baby is especially difficult because of the thin vessels and delicate organs of small children.
After the surgery, the new liver began working normally, and she was moved to the hospital’s intensive care unit. Doctors closely monitored her breathing, liver function, nutrition, and risk of infection. Over time, she began to recover, gain strength, and show signs of improvement.
The operation combined surgical skill with advanced technology. The team used ICG fluorescence imaging (Indocyanine Green) to visualise the infant’s biliary anatomy and blood vessels without repeated X-ray scans. At the same time, minimally invasive laparoscopic surgical systems allowed precise control during reconstruction of the portal vein, hepatic artery, and bile duct.
This operation showed that advanced medical technology and teamwork could help save the most challenging pediatric cases. Vinmec is one of the few hospitals in Vietnam with the capability to perform complex liver transplants on children and adults, and it has completed many difficult surgeries before, including on very young or critically ill patients.
Doctors and the family expressed deep relief and hope. The baby’s recovery gives new life and joy to her parents, and the hospital says this success will help prepare its teams for more difficult pediatric transplant cases in the future.
