On March 21, 2018, a delegation of six?members?from Groningen University Medical Center?visited our hospital.?Located on the north of the Netherlands, Groningen University Medical Center?is one of the largest hospitals in the world and has?a well-known?organ transplantation?center. The team?was led by Professor Porte?who is the chief of the organ transplantation?center?and?a?world prestigious liver transplantation expert especially in ex vivo organ machine perfusion.

As the vice president of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University and the chief of Dept. of Organ Transplantation, Prof. He Xiaoshun performed the first case of ischemia-free liver transplantation(IFLT) in?the world on July 23, 2017, which solved the centurial problem of organ transplantation and caused a sensation in academic circles domestic and overseas. Therefore, Prof. He was elected as the 'China Top Ten Science and Technology Innovation Figures for 2017" by eight ministries and commissions, including the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The first case of the IFLT was published in the most authoritative?journal in the transplantation field and the surgical animation?was shown as a highlight video on the website. When Professor Porte read the report of the?IFLT in the?headlines, he was so excited?and couldn’t wait?to contact with professor He by e-mail and expressed his wish to visit?and learn the epoch-making?technology?in China.

As the director of the?organ?transplantation center and?a master in organ transplantation and mechanical perfusion,?Professor Porte has pubished more than 200 SCI papers and worked on the editorial board in internationally renowned magazines including 《Hepatology》 and 《Journal of Hepatology》. After a?four-day?on-site visit, Professor Porte amazed at the standard of care provided by the organ transplantation center of The First Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-sen University?and said: 'Your operations are so wonderful that the doctors and nurses can cooperate with each other with little communication. It's incredibly skillful. '?when he fully visited and observed the two cases of ischemia-free liver transplantation.

On March 22, a?symposium about ischemia-free liver transplantation technology was convened by the Dutch delegation and our hospital. At the meeting, Professor Xiao Haipeng, vice president of Sun Yat-sen University and President of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, expressed a warm welcome to the guests. President Xiao introduced our hosipital?as one of the cradles of clinical organ transplantation and organ donation in China, having achieved many ' pioneering works ': the first successful case of large organ transplantation in China, the first liver transplantation donated by deceased citizen, the first combined liver and kidney transplantation in Asia, the first multiple organ transplantation in Asia, the first liver transplantation from two donors to?three receptors?and the first case of ischemia-free liver transplantation?in the world. The number of modified multiple organ transplantation?cases?has reached the highest in the world, and the survival rate of patients has reached the leading level around the world. Our organ transplantation center has won twice the second prize of the National Prize for Progress in Science and Technology, once the first prize of the Ministry of Education, the first prize of the Science and Technology Progress of Guangdong Province for four projects," Ding Ying Science and Technology Award"of Guangdong Province, 'Guangzhou Mayoral Award for Science and Technology", 'Fran Award" of Sun Yat-sen University and 'International Transplantation Field Award", etc. President Xiao hopes that the experts of the two countries will grasp this opportunity to develop further cooperation and let IFLT technology go abroad and become a beautiful card of China.?Professor He Xiaoshun, vice president of the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, said the IFLT technology would?be further simplified and optimized,?which?will allow more centres at home and abroad to master for the benefit of more patients.

?In addition, the two organ transplantation centers will sign a cooperation agreement and ?will have a deeper cooperation in the field of surgery, especially organ transplantation, to introduce the technology and concept of ischemia-free trasplantation to the world. In the near future, our transplantation center will apply ischemic-free technology to kidney transplantation. Finally, this technology will be applied to heart and pancreas transplantation, which will transform the ?cold transplantations to warm ones. Since the application of organ transplantation on the patient sufferring from the end stage disease, western countries have been the pioneers and leaders in this field. Because of many historical reasons, there is still a gap between our and western developed countries on organ transplantation.But this ischemic-free technology will be believed to narrow this gap and promote our country to catch up with and surpass the western countries.

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