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."
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition