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Achievements in Organ Transplantation
Since Prof. Wu Jieping performed successful kidney transplant surgery for the first time in 1960, China has carried out many transplant operations for kidneys, lungs, hearts, pancreas and bone marrow. The type and number of operations have grown, and the success rate has greatly increased. China is the leader in this field, according to the latest Beijing Review.
Prof. Tang Xiaoda, chairman of the Chinese Society of Dialysis and Transplant, said that kidney transplants in China have been the earliest performed and are the most technologically developed. As the operation can now be conducted in 29 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, it has become the common way to treat kidney ailments. By the end of 2000, a total of 34, 832 patients had gone through kidney transplant in China. Last year alone, over 5, 000 transplant operations were carried out.
Meanwhile, much progress has been made in other organ transplants, with increasing number of cases and improving rate of success. One patient with a transplanted liver has survived for over seven years, and the longest time patients with a transplanted heart, lung, and pancreas have survived is eight, six and seven years respectively.
The key problem with organ transplantation operations is to control the risk of rejection. Since the 1980s, with development in immunity control, the survival rate and quality of daily life of Chinese patients with organ transplants have experienced great improvement. The survival rate of kidney transplant patients has increased from 50 percent in the 1980s to 90 percent today. The longest-surviving patient has lived for over 24 years.
The public's willingness to donate their own organs has promoted to some extent the development of organ transplantation in China. According to incomplete statistics, by the end of 2000, 181 cases of kidney transplants between relatives had been conducted in 37 hospitals. The Wuhan Tongji Hospital carried out 37 cases, with 34 patients still surviving. The one-year, five-year and 10-year survival rate has reached 97 percent, 90 percent and 82 percent, respectively.
Some experts say that despite great progress in organ transplantation, there are still many difficulties, including a lack of organ donors and a lack of legal protection. To improve the quality of operations and develop new medicine for immune control, many efforts are being made to push forward the organ transplantation cause, especially in research and medicine administration.
Success Rate of Organ Transplant Increased in China
Lately a National Organ Transplant Forum was held in Bo'ao, Hainan Province. It is learned that China has become much mature in its surgery technology, transplant immunology, application of immunity inhibitor and preserving technology of organs since the country's famous medical expert Professor Wu Jieping performed the first kidney transplant operation 41 years back in 1960. The categories and success rate of clinical organ transplant operations such as kidney, liver, heart and marrow transplant operations have increased and have been at or approached world advanced level.
Sources told that China began its organ transplant study first with kidney transplant operation. So far, kidney transplanting have become operations most frequently undertaken in China. With most developed technology, China has promoted it to 29 provinces and cities across the country in recent years. It has become a routine operation for the treatment of last-phase kidney disease. By the end of 2000, China had performed 34,832 kidney transplant operations. The number of these last year alone exceeded 5,000. A group of comprehensive kidney transplant centers of scale have been set up. Besides, notable success also has been achieved in the transplanting of other organs.
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