Professor Masatoshi Makuuchi, a living legend in the world’s surgical field in modern days, has made his comeback to Viet Nam since he directly successfully performed the first liver transplant in Viet Nam in 2004. Despite being in his seventies, Professor Masatoshi Makuuchi has still wholeheartedly shared his top-notch medical experience through his collaboration with hospitals and medical schools throughout the country.

With the help of Professor Masatoshi Makuuchi, doctors at the Da Nang General Hospital are seen conducting a surgery to remove a liver tumor reaching 7cm in diameter in the right liver of a 78-year-old man.

Early this month, with the help of Professor Masatoshi Makuuchi, doctors at the Da Nang General Hospital succeeded for the first time in conducting a surgery to successfully remove a liver tumor reaching 7cm in diameter in the right liver of a 78-year-old man from Quang Ngai Province.

Dr Nguyen Hoang, Director of the Digestive Surgery Ward, said “While performing the surgery, professor Makuuchi instructed our doctors how to locate the blood vessels in order to help them initiatively stop bleeding which is one of possible risks of complications occurring during surgery”.

The surgery is part of a cooperative programme between the Da Nang General Hospital, the Vietnamese and Japanese Doctors’ Association, and the Team Medical Rounds organisation in Japan.

In September, the Da Nang General Hospital and the Vietnamese and Japanese Doctors’ Association together entered into a cooperative agreement on training surgeons for liver transplants.

Accordingly, the Da Nang surgeons will study at hospitals and medical institutes in Japan within 6 months. In addition, Japanese doctors will visit and perform from simple to complicated case of removing liver tumours at the Da Nang hospital, and transfer liver transplant techniques to the city’s surgeons.

The intention of the cooperative agreement between Da Nang and Japan is to help the city’s hospital realise its goal of performing its first liver transplant by 2020, and establishing the Organ and Stem Cell Transplantation Centre in the future.

Professor Makuuchi is a distinguished surgeon, educator, and researcher, as well as a world-renowned medical leader. He received his medical degree in 1973 from the University of Tokyo, the top medical school in Japan.

Since then, he has remained at this university and related institutions. He moved up the academic ladder, chairing the surgical department, and has been the president of many surgical societies, and has held honorary professorships and fellowships both in Japan and internationally.

The talented Japanese professor is now known as the world’s leading specialist in liver transplants and surgery involving the liver, bile, and pancreas.

Noticeably, in 1993, he became the first surgeon in the world to successfully perform a living-donor liver transplant which involves transplanting a portion of the liver from a living donor into a recipient whose liver no longer functions properly.

In particular, the Japanese expert marked a very important milestone in the history of organ transplants in Viet Nam as he coordinated with his Vietnamese colleagues to successfully carry out the country’s first living-donor liver transplant at the Ha Noi-based Military Hospital 103 on 31 January, 2004.

Professor Masatoshi Makuuchi is dubbed as "a living legend " in the world’s surgical field in modern days

Professor Makuuchi is the President of the Japanese Red Cross Medical Center, and President of the International Association of Surgeons, Gastroenterologists and Oncologists (IASGO) and honorary professor of the University of Tokyo.

As a pioneer and a recognized international expert in the field of HBP surgery, Professor Makuuchi, throughout his career, has taken many initiatives in developing methods of perioperative managements, hereby contributing to establishing techniques for safe surgical operation.

For many years, he has continued academic surgical works, including basic and clinical research. He was an excellent educator, and many active hepatic surgeons in Japan are his former students and residents.

Closely following Professor Makuuchi's footsteps, talented doctor Keiji Sano from the Teikyo University Hospital in Japan revealed that his respected teacher has successfully performed a total of 5,000 surgeries, noticeably some of which were record-breaking liver transplants with the duration of more than 30 hours each.

When asked about the secret of success in liver transplants, Professor Makuuchi underscored the significance of setting the rules for himself, and absolutely complying with them under whatever circumstances.

He has always attached importance to saving the lives of patients at any price, being careful with every disease, giving righteous decisions on interventions, and also importantly, giving kind concern and compassion for his patients.