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Xiaoli, 28, was born with Ebstein's anomaly - a malformation of her heart's tricuspid valve that causes it to leak. Consequently, some of the blood pumped by the right ventricle goes backwards through the valve with each heartbeat, causing her heart to enlarge.

Ebstein's anomaly is a heart defect in which the tricuspid valve is abnormally formed and does not move normally. Often, there's also a hole that causes atrial septal defect in the wall between the heart's two upper chambers.

She was diagnosed with the heart defect during the medical checkup for the national entrance college examination 11 years ago, says Xiaoli, who insists that China Daily use aliases for both her and her husband to prevent complications in their future careers.

"The defect did become an obstacle for my college enrollment and later employment, but I was able to overcome them," she says, without elaborating on how she overcame these hurdles.

Despite her problems, Xiaoli won the heart of Jerry, and the couple - both computer engineers - got married two years ago. A few months later, long hours of work finally took its toll on Xiaoli, and she was hospitalized for atrial fibrillation. Her heart was racing, beating at an average of 140 times per minute. Doctors told her that surgical repair was now a must, because the leaking was severe and she was at risk for heart failure.

But Ebstein's anomaly is a rare heart defect afflicting one out of 210,000 newborns. It accounts for only 1 percent of all children suffering from congenital heart diseases. Leading heart clinics in the world, such as the famous Mayo Clinic in the United States, suggest patients choose a surgeon with familiarity and rich experience in treating the disease.

"My friends and I did a lot of research and consulted a lot of doctors. Many said they could do it, but after a thorough search, we realized that Dr Wu Qingyu was the one to treat my wife," Jerry wrote in his diary.

In fact, in 2004, Dr Wu published his thesis, A New Procedure for Ebstein's Anomaly, in the American journal for thoracic surgery and was celebrated for "outstanding early results".

On May 7 of this year, he presented an updated version of his work at the annual conference of American Association for Thoracic Surgery in Washington DC, because he and his colleagues helped 80 patients with Ebstein's anomaly to free themselves not only from fears of heart failure but also from the complications and possible life-long need for medications that arise from the more established procedures.

"His (Wu's) repair technique is innovative, and he has been able to repair the majority of valves (as opposed to replacing damaged valves)," Dr Joseph A Dearani told China Daily in an e-mail. "His work is respected by his peers and is felt to be an important contribution in the management of Ebstein's anomaly."

Xiaoli underwent corrective surgery in November 2005 and checked out of the hospital seven days later. She returned to work early last year, and today, the couple is considering starting a family.

(China Daily July 25, 2007)