Kidney transplant saves man's life

A man from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region suffering from renal failure was discharged from hospital on Monday after a successful kidney transplant, thanks to his sister's kidney donation.

Hadir was diagnosed with uremia at 24. In the following 10 years, he kept himself alive by renal dialysis, Changjiang Daily reported.

At the beginning of this year, his heart function deteriorated and he often suffered from cardiac pains. Local hospital told Hadir he must receive a kidney transplant as soon as possible or he would die.

Hadir has eight brothers and sisters in his family and they get along with each other very well. After discussion, the youngest sister decided that she will donate her kidney to save her older brother, considering her age and blood type.

On Feb 10, Hadir and his sister arrived at Tongji Hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province, with families' blessing.

On March 7, Chen Gang, professor at organ transplant institute of Tongji Hospital, performed the kidney transplant surgery. Six days later, his sister was discharged from hospital.

Zhu Lan, chief physician of the organ transplant institute, told China Daily that so far, Hadir has been recovering smoothly.

"He was discharged from hospital on Monday. Now he needs to return to the hospital every week for a check-up because the doctor will adjust medication plan based on his condition. After three months, he can be come once a month and contact the medical staff remotely to determine whether medication plan needs change," said Zhu.

According to Zhu, in recent years, the department has performed about 400 kidney transplantation surgeries every year and blood relatives' donation accounts for about a quarter to one-third of them. The number of kidney donation decreased in the past three years, posing a notable impact on kidney transplantation surgery." Zhu added.

"Live organ donation requires pre-physical examination for the donator and the receiver, review by the medical ethics committee and approval from the expert committee of living organ transplantation of Hubei province," said Zhu.