First of their kind organ transplants performed in China, Taiwan

Transplant News,  Jan 15, 2005  

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A Chinese woman received a new intestinal tract and 4 other organs at a Shanghai hospital in late November. The multi-organ transplant was the first of its kind ever performed in China. The 14-hour operation involving 30 doctors and nurses left 38-year-old Lu Xiao with a new intestinal tract, stomach, spleen, liver and pancreas, a spokesperson for Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, said.

In early December surgeons at National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei performed Taiwan's first transplant between donors with different blood types.

The donor kidney was provided by 60-year-old Yiu Kuo-shun, to his 55-year-old wife Hu Pao-chu. According to Taipei Times, Hu prepared for the operation the week prior to the operation by getting 4 injections of replacement plasma from her husband and took oral inhibitors to suppress her immune system.

"The shortage of organs has long troubled patients the their families. Before this success, family members with different blood types could only watch helplessly as the patient's health deteriorated during the long, anxious wait for organs," said Tsai Meng-kun, Hu's transplant surgeon.

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