Doctors achieved a Taiwan first with a lung transplant on an 11-year-old girl, National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
Surgeons in October completed a 15-hour operation to replace the child’s damaged lungs with donations from her father’s lower right lung and the lower left lung of her mother, said Hsu Hsao-hsun (徐紹勛), head of the hospital’s thoracic surgery unit.
The girl, surnamed Liao (廖), was transferred to NTUH from another hospital in July last year after a cellulitis infection developed into sepsis, which required her to be put on life support, Hsu said.
Photo copied by Yang Yuan-ting, Taipei Times
Liao was put on a transplant waiting list, but no suitable lungs were found due to a chronic shortage of registered organ donors, he said, adding that living donations from family members comprise the vast majority of the nation’s liver and kidney transplants.
The parents consented to each donate lung portions when doctors presented them with the option, he said.
In 2005, NTUH was certified to perform live lung transplants by what was at the time the department of health, he said.
The hospital has carefully maintained the capability to carry out the procedure, Hsu said.
Regulations stipulate that living donations of lungs must come from two blood relatives within five degrees of separation from the recipient, while there are additional medical requirements linked to lung health, age and body size, he said.
NTUH did not make the decision to proceed with the transplant lightly, as the chances of success for the operation were assessed at no more than 50 percent by Kyoto University Hospital, the world’s leading authority on the procedure, Hsu said.
The operation presented a significant challenge, as the lung tissue had to be removed from two donors and transplanted into the patient, with each step carrying a risk of death, he said.
Four surgical teams rehearsed the operation in 16 planning sessions before conducting the procedure, he said.
Children who get lung transplants have a 10-year survival rate of 80 percent and Liao’s prognosis is likely better because transplants from blood relatives carry a smaller risk of rejection, he said.
The girl is in physical therapy to ensure the transplants remain healthy and grow with her, he added.
Liao’s father said it was trying to see their child on the verge of death.
He jumped at the chance to save his daughter’s life, he said.
The sole concern he had with the procedure was his high blood-sugar levels, which could have made his lung tissue unsuitable for transplantation, the father added.
Additional reporting by CNA
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
RSS