China completes first kidney re-transplant operation

The demand for organ transplantation is huge in China, but the resources are limited. China is in in urgent need of volunteer organ donors. [Photo/CFP]

Chinese surgeons have successfully re-transplanted a kidney which was originally transplanted in another person.

The kidney was originally transplanted in a man back in November.

However, after he passed away, the same kidney has since been transplanted in the new recipient.

This marks the first time a successful organ re-transplant has taken place in China.

Gui Weiguo is the director of the Human Organ Transplant Center at a military hospital in Guangxi.

"So far, the patient's urine volume has gone back to normal. At the same time, an ultrasound shows the blood supply to the transplanted kidney is normal. As such, we feel the operation was a success."

China is in urgent need of volunteer organ donors.

The success of the re-transplant is being viewed as a new approach to relieve the country's organ shortage.