Surgeons at Shanghai Children's Hospital yesterday successfully operated on a series of defects in the chest and abdomen of a 7-year-old boy and put his heart back into his chest in the second such case in China.

Chen Jiakun suffered from a rare inborn disease called "pentalogy of Cantrell," which causes defects of the sternum, diaphragm, heart and abdominal wall.

Because of serious sternum defects in the middle of the chest, Chen's heart was in front of his chest, protected only by skin. The defect could grow to as long as 10 centimetres.

During a 5-hour operation, surgeons repaired the defects and put Chen's heart into his chest and rebuilt a protective layer using bones and muscles.

Professor Jia Bing first repaired the boy's pericardium. He then cut five limbs at the joints on both sides of the chest and moved them to the middle.

Finally, professor Zhen Shan repaired the defective diaphragm, put the trasversum back into the belly and rebuilt the abdominal wall.

Following the surgery, Chen was sent to the intensive care unit for two days of close observation. Doctors say his condition remains normal and the respiratory machine will be removed soon. All the life indexes show Chen's heart is functioning well.

"My tears haven't stopped. I never had a real smile, because of his disease. And finally, the surgery has removed the big burden on my heart," the mother, Zhu Fa'er, told China Daily.

The boy needs another seven to 10 days of hospitalisation. After that, he needs regular checkups.

(China Daily June 13, 2006)