Five-year-old Tang-tang (湯湯), who was suffering from an enlarged heart, is now out of hospital after a successful heart transplant operation, making him the youngest patient in Asia to receive an artificial heart.
Chang Hsiao-huang (張效煌), a cardiovascular surgeon at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, said the heart condition was discovered when Tang-tang was taken to hospital after suffering from several colds when he was about four months old.
In July, Tang-tang was hospitalized after his condition worsened.
PHOTO: LU CHUN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
After two months without finding a suitable heart, doctors connected him to an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine to provide cardiac and respiratory support.
The ECMO, however, could only be used for two to four weeks. The longer it was used, the more side effects would appear, prompting Chang to decide to send for a "Berlin Heart," an extracorporeal heart designed for child patients, from the German Heart Institute in Berlin.
This helped doctors extend Tang-tang's life for another month, which gave them time to find a suitable heart for a transplant operation.
At the time, the Berlin Heart was still not approved for use in Taiwan, so the hospital team filed an urgent application with the Department of Health.
After only one-and-a-half days, the team managed to have a NT$1.6 million (US$49,500) Berlin Heart sent from the heart institute. Chang said on the day the artificial heart arrived Tang-tang was experiencing bleeding in his lungs, nose and mouth.
The Berlin Heart was put in place on Oct. 18, and on Nov. 20 a suitable replacement heart was found.
Chang said that artificial hearts are more difficult to make for children than for adults and that Germany is the only country that possesses the necessary technology.
A cake-cutting ceremony was held at the hospital on Wednesday to celebrate Tang-tang's "new life."
Alain Robert, known as the "French Spider-Man," praised Alex Honnold as exceptionally well-prepared after the US climber completed a free solo ascent of Taipei 101 yesterday. Robert said Honnold's ascent of the 508m-tall skyscraper in just more than one-and-a-half hours without using safety ropes or equipment was a remarkable achievement. "This is my life," he said in an interview conducted in French, adding that he liked the feeling of being "on the edge of danger." The 63-year-old Frenchman climbed Taipei 101 using ropes in December 2004, taking about four hours to reach the top. On a one-to-10 scale of difficulty, Robert said Taipei 101
Nipah virus infection is to be officially listed as a category 5 notifiable infectious disease in Taiwan in March, while clinical treatment guidelines are being formulated, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. With Nipah infections being reported in other countries and considering its relatively high fatality rate, the centers on Jan. 16 announced that it would be listed as a notifiable infectious disease to bolster the nation’s systematic early warning system and increase public awareness, the CDC said. Bangladesh reported four fatal cases last year in separate districts, with three linked to raw date palm sap consumption, CDC Epidemic Intelligence
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
US climber Alex Honnold left Taiwan this morning a day after completing a free-solo ascent of Taipei 101, a feat that drew cheers from onlookers and gained widespread international attention. Honnold yesterday scaled the 101-story skyscraper without a rope or safety harness. The climb — the highest urban free-solo ascent ever attempted — took just more than 90 minutes and was streamed live on Netflix. It was covered by major international news outlets including CNN, the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. As Honnold prepared to leave Taiwan today, he attracted a crowd when he and his wife, Sanni,
RSS