Beijing, Sep 12 (IANS) Two babies with severe congenital liver disease may get a new lease of life after their mothers were found qualified to donate part of their livers to each other’s boys.
Babies Zhe Zhe and Tuan Tuan, both born earlier this year, will undergo liver transplant surgery in a Beijing hospital in what could be China’s first liver donor exchange, the Shanghai Daily reported.
The babies have congenital biliary atresia, a condition in which bile cannot drain from the liver due to the absence or closure of ducts.
A transplant is the only effective method of treatment. Otherwise, patients may die of liver failure.
Doctors said the surgery failure rate is up to 20 percent at the boys’ age.
The two mothers were told their blood types did not match that of their own sons. Their husbands were also disqualified.
However, the boys’ mothers chatted online and found they might be able to save each other’s sons.
