Surgeons from Shanghai's Ruijin Hospital announced Monday that an operation completed on December 15 transplanting seven organs from a single donor to one woman has been a success.

"The 14-hour multi-organ transplant went smoothly and successfully, and the patient is recovering well one week after receiving the new liver, pancreas, spleen, stomach, small bowel, duodenum and colon from one donor," said Li Hongwei, chief surgeon and president of the hospital at a press conference Monday.

The operation is the first of its kind in Asia, according to doctors from the hospital.

The recipient, a local woman aged 38, was diagnosed with a rare disease called familial adenomatous polyposis, which strikes one in every 7,000 to 24,000 people.

This hereditary condition had caused numerous polyps of various sizes (the largest the size of an egg) to form in her digestive system. Some in her stomach and duodenum had also become cancerous and spread to other organs.

The first such operation was conducted at the Transplant Center in Pittsburgh in the US in 1989. Ruijin Hospital conducted China's first organ transplant 20 years ago and founded its own transplant center in 2002.

"This case was really challenging and risky because the patient needed to have seven organs and tissues removed and replaced," said another chief surgeon, Yin Lu, involved in the surgery.

Two teams of surgeons worked from the afternoon of December 14 to 5:15 AM on December 15. During the whole process, the patient's condition remained stable.

Surgeons described the patient's recovery as "excellent." She is now able to drink water and communicate with doctors and will remain under close observation for at least a month, the hospital said.

(China Daily December 21, 2004)