Translator: Ni Shuyan

Reviewer: Si Xiaocai (Shelia)

Since October 1, nine patients with end-stage organ failure have been successfully carried out with transplantations in eight days at SRRSH and all of them have recovered well. (One lung transplant, two heart transplants, two liver transplants, and four kidney transplants)

It is exhilarating that SRRSH has made great strides from the "minimally invasive era" to the "transplantation era", and transplantation has become a regular surgery at the hospital. Organ transplantation is one of the most effective techniques for saving the lives of the patients with organ failure. Since January 2019, 43 patients with organ failure got new lives because of the hospital's skilled organ transplant team.

During the holiday, the organ transplantation team, organ donation coordination team, anesthesiology, operating room, ICU, laboratory, pharmacy, ultrasound, radiology, pathology, nursing department and other more than 10 departments and hundreds of nurses were standing by in the hospital to prepare for the coming nine organ transplant operations.

The nine patients from all around the country have suffered from the disease for more than 10 years, but because of the successful organ transplants, they were reborn.

[Breaking through difficulties, Liver Transplantation Surgery Successfully Completed]

This holiday meant a lot to Mr. Zhao (a pseudonym) and his family. They drove four hours to SRRSH to get a "new liver".

Mr. Zhao, 41, was doing business in Zhejiang and he had to drink a lot when socializing. He was found to have cirrhosis of the liver 3 years ago. The doctor told him that his cirrhosis was so severe that it could not be removed surgically. The best treatment for him was a liver transplant but they don't know how long it will take to find a matched liver. Finally, during the National Day, Mr. Zhao received a call from SRRSH, saying that a liver had been successfully found that matched him. Mr. Zhao’s liver transplantation operation was full of risks and complications. However, the liver transplantation team of SRRSH, led by hospital vice president Yu Hong, did a careful preoperative evaluation. They solved the problem of insufficient blood flow and successfully transplanted Mr. Zhao's liver.

[Five Heart Transplantations in One Month

Fight against Pulmonary Hypertension in the Surgery]

Ms. Song, who has suffered from heart disease for many years, also got a chance to have a new life this holiday. Over the years, her heart gradually expanded, and it had almost expanded to the entire chest cavity before the operation. She relied on a pacemaker to keep herself alive and heart transplantation is the last chance for her. Director Qian Ximing of the Department of Cardiac Surgery at SRRSH has led an excellent heart transplantation team to help the patients like Ms. Song. 

Since the first heart transplantation was carried out at the beginning of September, the heart transplant team at SRRSH has performed five heart transplantations and all of them were successful. All five heart transplantation patients were having a difficult high-risk condition: severe pulmonary hypertension. When heart transplantation surgery encounters severe pulmonary hypertension, it's like walking a tightrope, making heart transplantation surgery even more difficult. In order to solve this problem, Dr. Qian Ximing and his team cooperated with the Intensive Care Unit, Respiratory Therapy Department and Ultrasound Department and formulated a perfect diagnosis and treatment plan for each heart transplant patient in a very short time.

With the strong technical team, sophisticated heart transplantation procedures, and close interdisciplinary collaboration, heart transplantation has become a regular procedure at SRRSH, bringing hope to patients with end-stage organ failure.

[Promoting the Development of Organ Donation and Transplantation in China]

Organ transplantation has been called the "pinnacle of medicine" in the 21^st century which can reflect the comprehensive medical standard of a hospital and the country. Professor Chen Xiaoping has stated that there are two main directions for surgery in the 21st century: minimally invasive surgery and organ transplantation.

SRRSH is considered as the pioneer in the field of minimally invasive surgery in China. In order to widen the field, in January 2019, SRRSH got the transplant qualification for liver, kidney, heart, and lung transplantation and set up a highly skilled organ transplantation team. The hospital's organ donation team and organ procurement organization(OPOs) also contributed to the success of the organ transplantation team in the hospital. They played the role of “ferryman” between death and rebirth and raced against time to ensure that the transplant team could obtain the organs in time.