A COVID-19 patient who received a double-lung transplant surgery was discharged from hospital after a full recovery on July 21 in Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei province.

(Photo/People's Daily App)

The 65-year-old man, Cui Zhiqiang, left the Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, 92 days after he underwent the operation.

At a ceremony the hospital held for him that day, Cui expressed his gratitude to his doctors by writing a “thank you” message to the medical team for the care he received during his 166 days there.

Of the 10 COVID-19 patients who received lung transparent surgeries around the world, Cui is the first one to be discharged from hospital. Six patients underwent such surgeries in China, and one each in Italy, the U.S., Austria and South Korea.

Cui Zhiqiang is discharged from the hospital. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

Ma Xudong, an official with the National Health Commission, said the commission organized an expert lung transplant team consisting of the country’s top specialists to treat Cui from mid-April. Online discussions on Cui’s treatment plan were held several times after two expert teams from east China’s Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces left Wuhan.

Cui tested positive for COVID-19 on Feb. 7 and was treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a life-support machine, for 62 days.

Although his nucleic acid test results turned negative following treatment, he suffered from irreversible pulmonary interstitial fibrosis and respiratory failure.

Lin Huiqing, a senior thoracic surgeon with the hospital, decided to perform a lung transplant surgery for the patient.

(Photo/People's Daily App)

On April 20, more than 20 experts from the national expert team of lung transplant and medical workers from various departments at the hospital performed a successful double-lung transplant that lasted over six hours in a negative-pressure operating theatre. The medics wore goggles, full-body protective suits and head shields throughout the procedure.

The operation was highly risky, said Lin, explaining that the medical workers were not able to verbally communicate during the operation as they were wearing positive-pressure head covers, and had to rely on their experience and mutual understanding to complete the surgery.

Doctors unhooked him from the ECMO two days after the operation. Later, Cui was treated for rejection reaction, serious infection, multi-drug resistance, and bowel function failure following the surgery. He also received intensive recovery treatment.

Cui was able to stand on his own in mid-June and move in a wheelchair in July. He is the last COVID-19 patient to be cured and discharged from the hospital.