Recently, Professor Qiang Xia, vice president of our hospital and director of the Department of Liver Surgery, led the liver transplantation team to successfully cut off the left lateral lobe of liver from a donor with situs inversus totalis, and use the left lateral lobe to treat and win a new life for her daughter with biliary atresia at less than 1 year old.

 

 Mr. Liu from Huludao, Liaoning Province at 38-year-old had his beloved daughter last year. Unfortunately, her daughter was soon diagnosed with congenital biliary atresia. Congenital biliary atresia is a kind of disease with obstruction in some or all intrahepatic and extrahepatic bile ducts which lead to cholestatic cirrhosis and eventually the occurrence of liver failure disease. Without surgery, most children will die within 1 year. Liver transplantation is the only means to cure the disease. After the family's consultation, decided by the children's father, that is, Mr. Liu donated part of his own liver for his daughter’s treatment.

 

 Surprisingly, Mr. Liu turned out to be a rare patient with situs inversus totalis. According to Professor Qiang Xia the so-called "patient with situs inversus totalis" is also known as "mirror man". That is, the position of the heart, liver, spleen, stomach and other organs are contrary to normal people. For example, heart and spleen are on the left in normal subjects, while on the right in patients with situs inversus totalis. Liver, gallbladder, the appendix is on the right in normal subjects, while on the left in patients with situs inversus totalis. Just like the organs of normal subjects in the mirror, with the incidence of about one ten thousandth.

 

 Unlike ordinary surgery, doctors must "backhand" operate for the patients, but also have to avoid touching a number of "minefields." Because the anatomical structure of the left and right liver is very different, so the doctors have to face a huge difficulties and risks to cut off the left lateral lobe of donor liver from Mr. Liu. After a series of discussions and preoperative preparation, Professor Qiang Xia led the liver transplantation team with the help of the Department of Anesthesiology and the group in the operating room to successfully cut off the left lateral lobe of liver for the "mirror man". The surgery took less than 2 hours with only 50ml bleeding. And then the "mirror" liver was successfully transplanted to Mr. Liu's daughter, to complete the pass of the father’s love as a mountain. Mr. Liu was discharged three days after surgery. His daughter has also been out of surgery risk, and her liver function has returned to normal.

 

 Since the implementation of the first case of liver transplantation in October 2006, our liver transplantation team has completed more than 800 cases of liver transplantation in children, accounting for one third of the total number of liver transplantation in children all over the country. The number of cases completed from 2011 has been the first in the world, and 1-year and 5-year survival rate after surgery in children also rank first in China. The successful implementation of the world's first living donor liver transplantation in a donor with situs inversus totalis, once again proves the courage to challenge the difficulties as well as pragmatic and innovative work style of Renji transplantation team in treatment of some rare diseases and rare mutations. (Correspondent Kang He / Translator Weiwei Zhang)