Transplant patient gives birth in a first for China

A 44-year-old woman who underwent two liver transplants has given birth to a healthy girl at Shanghai’s Zhongshan Hospital, the first double liver transplant patient to have given birth in China. The woman, a Jiangsu Province native living in Shanghai who wished to remain anonymous, had cirrhosis of the liver in 1997. Cirrhosis developed into liver cancer, and she had her first transplant in November 2004. But a subsequent infection meant she needed another transplant less than four years later. In March this year, she found she was pregnant and consulted doctors at the hospital as she had been taking anti-rejection medication since the surgery and was worried about the effect on her unborn child. She was also put in touch with Yu Jingmei, who had a liver transplant 10 years ago and successfully delivered a healthy girl at Zhongshan Hospital in 2011. Under the supervision of transplant surgeons and obstetricians, the woman’s pregnancy went smoothly and no abnormalities were detected. The child was delivered by cesarean section on Monday morning, and both mother and father were delighted with the new arrival, their first. Doctors said that the mother’s liver function would be strictly monitored over the next few days before she is allowed to leave hospital.