Tingting (pseudonym), an 8-month-old baby girl, became a "minion" due to congenital biliary atresia and urgently needed to change her liver to continue her life. Unable to wait for a suitable liver source, Tingting's father decided to sacrifice a piece of his liver for his beloved "heart liver baby".
Dad's deep affection for the calves deeply touched the medical staff. The reporter learned from the Organ Transplant Center of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University yesterday that Professor Liu Chao, vice president of the hospital, led a multidisciplinary team to overcome many difficulties such as the baby's small age, congenital heart disease, delicate blood vessels, and high risk of perioperative nursing, and recently successfully completed this parental liver transplant. After the operation, under the meticulous care of the medical staff, Tingting survived many difficulties, recovered well, and was discharged from the hospital yesterday morning accompanied by her parents.
Daughter becomes a "minion" and congenital heart disease Mom and dad resolutely do not give up
According to Tingting's father, Tingting was born on February 14 this year and is the second daughter in the family. A few days after Tingting was born, the jaundice did not recede, and it became more and more serious, and the color of the stool was still white. Seeing that "careful liver" had become "minion", her parents were impatient and took her to a specialist hospital for medical treatment, only to find that her daughter suffered from congenital biliary atresia.
"Doctors recommend waiting until the baby is older before doing a liver transplant. Everyone around us was trying to persuade us to give up, saying that we were still young and could have another baby. Tingting's father said that the couple's idea is the same: having another baby cannot replace her!" The baby has just come into this world, and the parents say that they can't give up! ”
Seeing that the abdomen of the heart and liver baby is becoming increasingly swollen, the appetite and spirit are not good, the body is emaciated day by day, and it is tortured, and the parents' hearts are like knives. "Watching her state deteriorate day by day, I tasted despair, and we didn't want to wait any longer." Tingting's father said that the couple asked Professor Liu Chao's team for help, hoping to carry out liver transplantation for the child as soon as possible.
"When this baby was first admitted to the hospital, the sclera of the whole body was severely yellowed, shortness of breath, the abdomen was obviously bulging, and the amount of milk consumed dropped from 180 ml to about 80-90 ml each time." Professor Liu Chao said that Tingting urgently needs liver transplant treatment.
However, Tingting suffers from congenital heart disease, which increases the risk of liver transplant surgery. "This baby has a heart atrial septal defect of up to 9 mm, and if he has a liver transplant, he is at greater risk of heart failure during and after surgery." Qin Lijun, chief physician of the Pediatric Department of the hospital, introduced.
In order to make the liver "up to standard" Dad lost 18 pounds in January
Save the heart first or save the liver first? Can I solve two problems with one surgery? Can the baby's body eat well?
The hospital immediately started the discussion, after piCU, ICU, anesthesiology, pediatric cardiology, pediatric liver disease, pediatric nutrition, imaging, psychology and nursing team and other multidisciplinary discussions, considering that Tingting is too young to withstand the blow of two important organ surgery at a time, the hospital decided to replace the child's liver first, and then carry out the treatment of congenital heart disease after his body recovers.
Can't wait for volunteers to donate a suitable liver source, in order to change the baby's liver as soon as possible to continue life, Tingting's father chose to "cut the liver to save the girl". Fortunately, the father-daughter matching matching match, but another difficult problem arose: Tingting's father needed to lose weight as soon as possible in order to make the liver meet the transplant standards. "My daughter was originally a father's "careful liver", as long as I can save the baby, I am willing to give everything I have. Tingting's father said emotionally. He actively exercised every day and quickly lost 18 pounds in a month, finally reaching the target.
Father-daughter on the operating table Multidisciplinary team joined forces to overcome the problem
On the morning of October 14, the parental liver transplant surgery officially began, Tingting and her father were pushed into the operating room together, and the two operations were carried out simultaneously.
The doctor first removed the left outer lobe from Tingting's father's liver, and at the same time, another group of doctors completely removed Tingting's diseased liver and retained important tubes, and then implanted the left outer lobe donated by her father into the baby's body, and ended the operation after ultrasound to confirm that the blood vessels were unobstructed.
"Tingting is only 8 months old, the blood vessels are very slender, especially the diameter of the arteries is only 1-2 mm, the difficulty of vascular anastomosis, the technical requirements of the surgeon are very high, and it needs to be completed with the help of a surgical microscope." Liu Chao introduced that the thread used to sew blood vessels for Tingting is almost invisible to the naked eye.
Cao Lin, deputy director of the anesthesia department of the hospital, led the anesthesia team to escort the father and daughter throughout the process. "Infants have a higher risk of anesthesia than adults. The baby's organ development is not as good as that of adults, the baby's heart is as large as a small fist, the myocardial development is not perfect, not to mention the atrial septum defect of the child's heart, and heart failure occurred before surgery, which also makes the operation "more difficult". Cao Lin said.
Rehydration is also a huge challenge, to control the amount of rehydration, one more drop, faster is not enough. After preoperative discussion, the anesthesia department helped Tingting smoothly through the dangerous period through fine management during the operation, and the assistance of pediatric cardiologists throughout the whole process.
After 11 hours of "fighting", this parental liver transplant was successfully completed. After the operation, Tingting was transferred to the ICU, carefully cared for by the medical staff of PICU and ICU, and then it was another "hard battle" that decided the final success or failure of the transplant operation. According to He Qing, director of the Surgical ICU of the Department of Critical Care Medicine, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, there are several major difficulties in infant organ transplant surgery after surgery, in addition to the fine management of volume, the use of anti-infection, anti-rejection and analgesia and sedation and other drugs, as well as the monitoring and maintenance of transplant liver function, feeding/nutritional support is also a problem.
"8-month-olds only drink milk. The little people left their parents and went to an unfamiliar environment, coupled with the pain of the postoperative wounds, and the body was full of pipes, crying when they were afraid, and it was easy to choke on milk when they cried, and there was danger. He Qing introduced that Tingting's coughing ability is poor, her lungs are easily infected, and medical staff regularly pat her back and suck sputum.
The reporter learned that in order to appease Tingting, every medical staff on duty must hug her and give her emotional support. The Surgical ICU also specially set up a "warm" nursing team composed of new "wet dads", "wet nurses" or "elite soldiers" with small children to take care of Tingting, and there is an additional criterion for selecting team members - "special children".
Two weeks after the operation, Tingting was transferred from the ICU back to the general ward. One month after the operation, Tingting successfully recovered and was discharged from the hospital. Today, Tingting's skin is no longer yellow, and her appetite is much better than before, and she can drink 150 ml of milk in one meal. "Seeing our daughter regain her health and vitality, we finally let go of the big stone in our hearts." Tingting's father said.
"My daughter was originally a father's "careful liver", as long as I can save the baby, I am willing to give everything I have. ”
——Tingting's father (all-media reporters Ren Shanshan, Chen Youzi, correspondents Zhang Yang, Huang Rui, Gu Guangxiang)
Source: Guangzhou Daily