On January 23, 2019, the first IVF-ET infantile recipient successfully underwent living donor liver transplantation in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University.
On the morning of February 14, a news media briefing on "the recovery and discharge of the first IVF-ET infant undergoing living donor liver transplantation in China" was held in the hospital. Shi Bingyin, President of the hospital, Han Ju, Deputy Secretary of the hospital, Professor Lv Yi, Assistant to the President of Xi 'an Jiaotong University and Chief Expert of hepatobiliary surgery and liver transplantation team, as well as the physicians and directors of the hepatobiliary surgery liver transplantation team, Department of Anesthesia Surgery, Surgical ICU, Department of Neonatology, Department of Medical Imaging, Department of Ultrasound were invited to attend the news media briefing. Relevant national, provincial and municipal mainstream media also participated in this event. Han Ju presided over this news media briefing.
The 6-month-old girl named Nannan is a precious "IVF-ET baby". Unfortunately, she has been diagnosed with congenital biliary atresia and patent ductus arteriosus since birth. She also presented with recurrent jaundice, accompanied by systemic pruritus. Liver transplantation is the only choice for saving the lovely baby. Her mother is willing to donate the liver for Nannan.
The hospital organized two rounds of multidisciplinary expert consultation from Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Department of Anesthesia Surgery, Department of Pediatrics, Department of Neonatology, Surgical ICU, Department of Cardiac Surgery, Department of Medical Imaging, Department of Ultrasound and Nursing Department to formulate explicit and comprehensive surgical plans and perioperative management protocols, which covers preoperative preparation, intraoperative anesthesia management and postoperative rehabilitation,etc.
On January 23, 2019, the diseased liver was successfully resected from Nannan and the healthy liver weighing 260.4g from her mother was eventually transplanted after the dedicated cooperation of nearly 20 surgeons and nurses for 7 hours. After over 20 days of meticulous nursing care, Nannan was properly recovered and discharged on February 14.
During the news media briefing, President Shi Bingyin stressed that the success of the first case of IVF-ET infant undergoing living donor liver transplantation opened a novel chapter for the pediatric liver transplantation in Northwest China and played a significant role in improving the survival rate and quality of life of children with congenital hepatobiliary diseases. With the persistent development of medical technologies and the ever growth of the transplantation team, liver and kidney transplantations provide effective treatments and prolong the survival of a large quantity of end-stage disease patients.
The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi 'an Jiaotong University has established an excellent liver transplantation team with advanced surgical expertise and abundant management experience. In total, 734 cases of various liver transplantations have been completed since 2000 except the living donor liver transplantation in infantile recipients. Consequently, core surgeons and physicians from the liver transplantation and anesthesia teams were sent to learn the advanced concepts of pediatric liver transplantation in Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. In December 2018, a kick-off meeting for pediatric liver transplantation was successfully launched in the hospital. To offer systematic solutions for the liver transplantation in children with end-stage liver diseases from Northwest China, the hospital has set up a special fund project to support the development of pediatric liver transplantation in this region. This fund project provides financial assistance for pediatric patients with surgical indications who live in poverty, reduce the economic burden on the affected family and cure the diseases as early as possible.
