Cai Wenjun/Shanghai Daily news

Doctors at Fudan University's Children's Hospital repaired two holes in the heart of a prematurely born boy who only weighed 1.5 kilograms, the smallest baby to ever undergo such surgery in China.
Ni Xinyu, who is only 38 days old, was born two months prematurely and only weighed 1.41 kilograms when he was delivered. He was immediately transferred to the children's hospital, where doctors discovered his heart ailments.
Doctors said the ailment prevented Ni from growing properly and surgery was the only way to cure the problem. Without the operation, Ni would probably suffer regularly from pneumonia and other syndromes seriously frustrating his development, doctors said, noting the condition could have eventually killed the young boy.
"Our hospital focuses on children's congenital heart diseases and has much experience. We conducted 650 such operations last year and 60 percent of the patients are younger than one year old," said Luo Weifeng, a hospital spokeswoman. "So we decided to give Ni this operation. The earlier the surgery the better the effect."
Doctors said small patients like Ni face extra risks due to their tiny blood vessels and pigeon-egg-sized heart.
Yesterday's surgery started on 8:30am and ended at 10:30am.
"The boy is expected to be discharged in five to seven days if he remains in stable condition," said Dr Jia Bing, who leads the eight-person surgical team. "He will grow up like other healthy children without any influence on his physical development."
According to doctors, two in every 1,000 newborns in China suffer congenital heart diseases, which are often caused by a mother's virus infection between the second and eighth week of pregnancy, environmental influences such as radiation and genetic issues.