Risky surgery on five-month-old girl a success

A five-month-old girl, who received a liver transplant plus a pancreatoduodenectomy has recovered and been discharged, a local hospital announced over the weekend.

The surgery created a global record for the youngest patient to receive such an operation, said Renji Hospital of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

The patient from Chongqing had frequent fevers and a yellow skin upon delivery. Her parents took her to a hospital where she was given a diagnosis of liver cirrhosis. They finally took the girl to Renji Hospital where doctors said a liver transplant was needed.

The girl received a matched donation on June 29. Doctors conducted the surgery immediately. 

During surgery, doctors found the girl had a serious abscess between the lower common bile duct and pancreatic duct. If this was not removed, the patient could have suffered severe abdominal infection after the transplant and the infection could have been fatal.

It was a risky procedure, as there was no prior report of a liver transplant plus pancreatoduodenectomy on such a young patient.

But doctors decided to carry out the procedure for the sake of the baby’s life. It was a difficult operation as the baby’s pancreatic duct was less than 1 millimeter in diameter. Doctors can barely see the duct even through a magnifying lens. 

The 10-hour surgery was declared a success and there was only 100 milliliter of blood loss with one unit of blood transfusion.

The patient has recovered well and her liver function started to work completely normally one week after surgery without post-surgery complications.

Ti Gong