Girl, 1, sets East China heart transplant record
Print Edition
A 1-YEAR-OLD girl who had a heart transplant was discharged from the Children’s Hospital of Fudan University yesterday, the youngest patient to have such a successful operation in East China, the hospital announced.
The patient, from Xiaman in Fujian Province, was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy at 3 months old. She was transferred between hospitals for treatment.
The parents took her to the Children’s Hospital of Fudan University two months ago, and doctors hospitalized her immediately when they saw her heart was enlarged.
Doctors said the patient’s condition was very serious and medication failed to control it. A heart transplant was the only viable solution.
Due to a limited number of donated organs, there are only 500 to 600 heart transplant surgeries conducted in China annually. Among the nearly one million patients in the terminal stage of heart failure, children account for a wee proportion, making pediatric heart transplants very challenging. The hospital is one of only a few with the qualification to perform such transplants in China.
The girl had been on a donor waiting list. During that time, she suffered a severe respiratory infection but recovered after treatment.
The girl got a new heart finally on November 6, when the heart of a 1-1/2-year-old deceased child was donated. Doctors took an ambulance to harvest the donated heart in another province and returned with it by midnight, when the transplant surgery immediately begun.
Her condition improved quickly after surgery and she was transferred back to an ordinary ward in the first week post-surgery for further treatment, doctors said.
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