Heart replacement for 8-month-old babies

Jinan Military Heart Institute (Shandong, China) has successfully completed the first case of heart replacement for children in the country. Two months after the surgery, the 8-month-old patient had overcome the crisis and returned to normal.

A heart replacement surgery.(Photo: VNN)

The boy, Zhang Gengchun, 8 months old from Shandong (Eastern China), suffered from serious heart disease.

Doctors had to replace the aorta and pulmonary artery of the boy and he had only one atrium with diseased ventricular wall.

Diagnosis in some hospitals shows that the boy's heart condition is complex and heart replacement is the only cure.

After a successful animal test, the Jinan Military Heart Institute (Shandong, China) outlined a plan to replace the heart for young patients. Qiao Bin, the main surgeon, changed a healthy heart into Zhang's body. The 5-hour surgery was very successful. One day after his heart was changed, little Zhang could sit up in bed and eat. Sixty-one days later, the patient's condition returned to normal.

Minh Thuong