Renji's 3,000th liver transplant surgery for children

Ti Gong

Renji Hospital on Sunday announced the success of its 3,000th liver transplant surgery for children.

This is a record for the hospital, which has had the most transplants for children in the world for nine straight years.

The surgery conducted on Saturday involved a father donating part of his liver to his 7-month-old daughter who had congenital biliary atresia. This means bile flow from the liver to the gallbladder is blocked, which can lead to cirrhosis and liver damages.

After the surgery, the baby is expected to live a healthy life, said Dr Xia Qiang, president of Renji Hospital and leading surgeon.

Since the first liver transplant surgery on children in October, 2006, the hospital reached its 1,000 operation in August, 2017. The second 1,000 was reached in October, 2019, and now it is the third 1,000.

Renji can treat some 20 pediatric liver or inherited metabolic diseases through children's liver transplant. The surgery has been shortened from 13 hours to the current five to six hours, with the youngest patient aged only 58 days.

The one-year survival rate is 94 percent and 91 percent for five-year survival, higher than Western countries.

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.