Liver recipient is nation's youngest
1/4/2005 14:58
Cai Wenjun/Shanghai Daily news
Fudan University's
Children's Hospital used a single liver to extend the lives of a senior citizen
and a 4-month-old child - the nation's youngest person ever to receive a liver
transplant, hospital officials said yesterday. Both patients were reported to
be in stable condition. The young girl, a Zhejiang Province native, was born
with a closure of the ducts that drain bile from the liver. Though surgery was
performed on her when she was two months old, her condition deteriorated and a
liver transplant became her last hope. Doctors said the transplant surgery
was risky and required a high degree of delicacy, as the patient's organs and
blood vessels are very small and weak. "She weighs only 5.4 kilograms and her
total blood inventory is 0.4 to 0.5 liters," said Luo Weifen, a hospital
spokeswoman. "Her liver arteries and bile ducts are only 0.2 centimeters
wide." The Tuesday night operation was a relay event involving doctors at the
children's hospital and Shanghai Zhongshan Hospital, which split the donated
organ and operated on the adult, a liver cancer patient in her
60s.
|