Micro-film provides knowledge about children's liver transplantation
A micro-film featuring two children with terminal liver diseases saved thanks to organ donations by their parents debuted over the weekend.
It will be broadcast online for free to promote the knowledge of organ donation and organ transplant.
The stories of the two children in the film named "Baby with New Liver" are based on true experiences of patients at Renji Hospital. A number of Renji's medics participated in the writing and even played in the film, which is supported by Shanghai Science and Technology Commission.
Since conducting the first pediatric liver transplant in 2006, Renji Hospital has built itself into the world's largest children's liver transplant center.
By April, it has carried out 3,138 children's liver transplant by using organs donated by their family members. It has kept the record of the largest annual surgery quantity in ten straight years in the world.
Children who have successfully received a liver transplant at Renji Hospital participated the debut over the weekend.
"Scientific education is an important step forward," said Dr Xia Qiang, president of Renji Hospital and leader of its pediatric liver transplant team.
"As the first hospital adopting Western medicine in Shanghai, Renji has been involved in public education since 1860s. With the social development and people's rising demand, medical education has become an important part of medicine.
"Children's liver transplants have developed quickly in the nation in recent years. In addition to clinical improvement, medics' efforts in public education have also played an important role.
"Parents can understand the organ donation by using a family member's liver and give agreement and support."
Education doesn't only target patients and their relatives but also grassroots doctors.
"Many rural and grassroots doctors have poor awareness of liver diseases and rare diseases, which may cause miss diagnosis and delay of diagnosis and treatment. We made special teaching materials to such medics," said Dr Luo Yi, vice director of Renji's hepatic surgery department.
The hospital said it has used various new media platforms to promote knowledge of liver disease prevention and control and children's liver transplant to more than 500,000 followers.
There are nearly 3,000 children suffering liver failure due to various congenital diseases in China every year. If not treated, the mortality is over 90 percent. Liver transplant surgery provides new hope and a chance of survival for such children, doctors said.
