Shanghai's Changzheng Hospital has found a new procedure to reduce scarring to live kidney donors.

Doctors have been taking live donors' kidneys during transplant operations, as an alternative to removing kidneys from corpses.

The procedure enhances organ quality, donor safety and surgery success, medical experts said.

Some 100 kidney donors, recipients and uremia patients all over the nation participated a meeting to discuss the procedure.

They exchanged experiences in uremia treatment, kidney transplant and rehabilitation processes.

Changzheng doctors said they started to use the new method three months ago and, of the nine live transplant surgeries, all were successful.

Experts said live transplants was the best way to solving organ shortage and had a higher success rate compared with using organs from corpses.

"So the introduction of a safer and more effective way in taking the organ and improving surgery quality is very important to help promote live transplant and increase kidney donations," said Dr Wang Liming, vice director of People's Liberation Army Organ Transplant Institute.

"Live transplant is not accepted by many Chinese for fear of injury to the donor."

One method leaves donors with a 15-centimeter scar; another method uses a laparoscope which leaves minimal scarring.

"Though using laparoscope is minimally invasive, the pressure from the pump can hurt kidney quality and give donors injuries," Wang said.

"The traditional way is safer, as doctors have a better view. But the donor is left with a big scar."

Changzheng's method is a combination of the two. Doctors make a seven to eight-centimeter cut on the body while using laparoscope technology that leaves a smaller cut.

(Shanghai Daily October 29, 2007)