China's first-ever transplant of both a liver and a kidney in a single operation has been proven successful, according to the local Hunan Daily newspaper in Changsha, capital of central-south Hunan Province.
The Xiangya No. 3 Hospital, affiliated to Zhongnan (Central-South) University in Changsha, said on Wednesday that the 44-year-old woman patient, surnamed Ma, had been out of danger since Sunday and is recovering.
Mrs. Ma told the newspaper said she felt quite well after the three-day observation period following the operation which took place at 9 p.m. on July 4.
"After replacing the liver and kidney, I feel much at ease and more comfortable than prior to the operation," she said, giving the "V" sign with her right hand.
Mrs. Ma had maintained her life only by a life-support system for her severely dysfunctional liver and kidney when Prof. Ye Qifa, vice-president of the hospital's transplant research institute and chief surgeon of the operation, informed his senior colleagues about her serious condition.
The doctors decided to do the operation with techniques Prof. Ye himself developed after a decade of assiduous and solid researches. These techniques require no external-body blood circulation support and do not change the physiological function of the patient, the newspaper quoted the doctor, who received his medical doctorate degree at a German university, as saying.
The transplant of two organs in one operation requires highly sophisticated skills, and it can be performed in only few developed countries such as Britain, Germany and the United States.
(Xinhua News Agency July 9, 2003)
