Man becomes first person to have a second heart transplant in Hong Kong
- The patient, a man in his 40s, is still in critical condition, doctors say
- He had his first heart transplant in 2005 but it weakened and suffered heart failure, requiring another replacement
For the first time ever in Hong Kong, a second heart transplant operation has been carried out on the same patient.
Dr Timmy Au Wing-kuk, chief of Queen Mary Hospital’s division of cardiothoracic surgery, identified the patient as a man in his 40s whom he first operated on in 2005.
Au said on Wednesday the patient was still in a “critical” condition and that the next 48 hours would be important to his recovery.
The man had surgery in 2000 to replace his mitral valve – connecting the left atrium and left ventricle – but his health continued to deteriorate, resulting in the first transplant in 2005.
While the new heart worked well for some time, it gradually weakened. Au said the patient was deemed two years ago to be suffering from end-stage heart failure, and was listed again for a heart transplant at the start of this year.
On Wednesday, he received his second heart transplant. Surgery started at about 10.30am at Queen Mary and took about seven hours.