Ju Yongping, 33, suffers from primary carcinoma of liver and cirrhosis. His liver was badly damaged and he was suffering from the complications of icterus, hypoproteinemia and ascites.

Ju's healthy father, who has the same blood type as his son, volunteered to donate part of his liver to his son.

Ju and his father underwent the operation on Aug. 3 at Zhongshan Hospital which is attached to the prestigious Fudan University.

The right portion of the father's liver was used and it took doctors more than 10 hours to complete the operation.

Doctors said, compared with the transplant of a dead donor's liver, the transplantation of part of a liver from a close relative has many advantages like a good quality liver and a smaller chance of rejection.

However, they pointed out, there are many difficulties encountered when performing such operations. Doctors must guarantee the safety of the liver donor, maintain an adequate blood supply to the donor's liver and protect his blood vessels and bile duct.

Zhongshan Hospital is one of the few hospitals in China which can carry out live liver transplants.

(People's Daily August 8, 2002)