4-year-old girl with successful heart transplant discharged
Shot by Dong Jun. Edited by Dong Jun. Reported by Cai Wenjun. Subtitles by Cai Wenjun and Dong Jun.
The 4-year-old girl with heart transplant makes a "hand heart" gesture to celebrate her recovery.
A 4-year-old girl, who underwent a heart transplant in Shanghai, was discharged on Tuesday after making a full recovery, officials from the Children's Hospital of Fudan University said.
The girl was found with heart problem when she was 8 months old due to poor appetite and slow growth.
The parents took the baby to the children's hospital, whose doctors diagnosed her with dilated cardiomyopathy, a congenital myocardial disease. Heart function of such patients becomes progressively weaker with age. Though medication can control certain symptoms, the final solution is heart transplant, doctors said.
The girl says goodbye to medics on Tuesday, when she was discharged from the Children's Hospital of Fudan University.
The child had been receiving medication since being diagnosed. Her condition deteriorated in April and the parents rushed her to the hospital, where doctors confirmed her heart function was in the terminal stage and that she must receive a heart transplant.
Since the child was only 4 years old, there was a very limited source of donors.
A doctor from the Children's Hospital of Fudan University transports the donated heart back to the hospital.
"There were cases of adult donors but we gave up on them after evaluation. It was not until July 3 when we were informed by the China Organ Transplant Response System about a donor with matching age and blood type," said Dr Ye Ming, director of cardiac surgery department.
"It was a 2-year-old child. So we kicked off the organ harvesting, transporting and transplant process immediately. The time limit for a heart being removed from the body and transplanted onto the recipient is only six hours. We successfully completed the whole process within four hours."
Doctors conducting the heart transplant surgery.
The patient recovered very well and was moved from the intensive care unit to an ordinary ward on the eighth day after surgery.
"Her heart function is stable and meets the standard for being discharged today," Ye noted. "The girl is expected to have a healthy life."
It is also the first case of pediatric heart transplant conducted by the hospital, one of the few children's hospitals in China with the qualification for transplant surgery of heart, kidney and liver.
The family also expressed their gratitude to all medics.
"When my daughter was severely sick, doctors said she won't survive for one year unless she had a heart transplant. The whole process was so smooth and successful. It is the rebirth of my daughter," said the mother surnamed Li.
The girl, her parents and medics take a group photo before she is discharged.
