Chinanews, Beijing, Jan. 30 – A baby boy just 129 days old was recently given a living liver transplant surgery to survive from his congenital atresia of biliary duct. Both the patient and the donor, his mother, are in a healthy condition, the Guangming Daily reported.

 

The baby’s respiratory system remains stable now and his new liver is beginning to function normally. The surgical operation was performed by doctors from the Xijing Hospital of the Xi’an Fourth Military Medical University. So far, the baby is the youngest patient in China that has received a living liver tranplant surgery. The success of the surgery indicates that China has made further progress in its living liver transplant technology.

 

The baby, named Jiabo, is the younger brother of a twin pair. Three days after he was born, his skin, the white part of his eyes, and his urine all became yellow in color. He was later diagnosed as having congenital atresia of biliary duct and biliary hepatocirrhosis, which was fatal to the baby. There are no medicines to cure the disease and the only chance for the baby to survive is to give him a liver transplant surgery, said the doctors to the baby's parents.

 

Hearing this, the mother agreed to donate her own liver to the baby. Since the baby was very small and had a tiny belly, the doctors finally decided to transplant a segment of his mother’s liver to his body. As the vessels in the mother’s liver were larger than the vessels inside the baby’s liver, the doctors doing the surgery had to be very careful to ensure that the blood vessels of mother and child should be joined correctly and no blood clots be formed. With doctors’ careful planning, the young patient survived the 13-hour surgery performed by over 40 medical experts.