Zhejiang completes lung transplant for COVID-19 patient

HANGZHOU -- Doctors in east China's Zhejiang Province have completed a double-lung transplant surgery on a patient of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University School of Medicine said Monday.

The operation on the 66-year-old COVID-19 patient was performed Sunday by a medical team led by Liang Tingbo, a leading organ transplant surgeon in China and also the Party chief of the hospital.

The donated lungs came from a donor in central China's Hunan Province and were transported by air to Hangzhou.

The female patient was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Jan 31 and transported from a local hospital there on Feb. 2 as the illness progressed rapidly. She had several negative nucleic acid test results after receiving a trachea cannula on Feb. 3 and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support and medication on Feb. 16, yet suffered irreversible pulmonary disfunction.

The patient is currently in stable condition, with the transplanted lungs oxygenating well, the hospital said.