Viet Nam celebrates first successful delivery after foetal heart surgery

This is the first instance of successful foetal heart surgery in the region. This accomplishment would enable doctors to advance their skills in fixing children’s heart defects in Viet Nam.

Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, Deputy Director of Children's Hospital 1 in Ho Chi Minh City, reported that the surgery lasted 25 minutes on January 4. Doctors successfully performed fetal cardiac surgery on the baby, then a 32-week-old foetus with congenital heart defects.

The baby was delivered on January 30 via Caesarean section, evoking emotional responses from the medical team.

After birth, the baby will undergo continuous monitoring and evaluation at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Children's Hospital 1 in HCM City. Experts will reassess the situation and chart a long-term treatment course for the baby.

Each year around ten to 12,000 Vietnamese children are diagnosed with congenital cardiac defects, meaning one such child is born every 15 minutes.

Around 50 percent are in severe conditions, and 5,000 get to receive cardiac surgeries./.