In early March, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University completed lung transplantation for two elderly patients with COVID-19 pneumonia through multidisciplinary collaboration.

On April 21, good news came from the transplantation team of the First Affiliated Hospital that these two patients were recovering smoothly. Among them, the first patient having the surgery, 66-year-old Ms. Wang, would soon be discharged from the hospital.

On the day after the surgery, Ms. Wang overcame rejection and on the 5th day after the surgery, her ECMO was removed.

However, she still needs to continue overcoming difficulties. She went through digestive tract hemorrhage, delayed thoracic hemorrhage and other dangerous condition changes, and difficulties in rehabilitation such as poor muscle strength. Han Weili often filmed the two patients to record their recovery process. As can be seen in the video, Ms. Wang is now able to sit at the bedside, pedal the recovery bicycle, and stand on her own. She will soon be discharged from the hospital.

Although Mr. Li’s ECMO was removed two days after the surgery, he also experienced many difficulties.

Recently, professor Liang Tingbo, secretary of the party committee of the First Affiliated Hospital (communication author), and Han Weili (first author) co-published a paper entitled "Lung Trans-Plantation for Elderly Patients with End-Stage COVID-19 Pneumonia" in Annals of Surgery, the most authoritative journal in the field of surgery in the world. This paper is on the lung transplantation surgery for two elderly patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in early March by the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University. It demonstrates that lung transplantation surgery for patients with end-stage COVID-19 pneumonia is feasible and safe.

(Executive Editor: Ye Ke)