Zhang Yu

JeniZhang13@163.com

THE University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital (HKU-SZH) plans to introduce a full set of effective methods and techniques from a medical team of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) that specializes in living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) within five years.

The hospital will start carrying out LDLT in the city next year and is expected to realize the breakthrough in conducting Shenzhen’s first LDLT surgery . It also strives to become one of the first centers to offer liver transplant services in Shenzhen and South China.

The team, led by head of HKU-SZH and HKU chair professor of hepatobiliary surgery Lo Chung-Mau, was introduced through the Sanming Project, which was launched in 2014 and aimed to improve the city’s medical resources and public health.

Lo is an internationally renowned expert in hepatobiliary surgery and liver transplant. He has rich experience in living donor and cadaveric liver transplantation.

Other team members include Yuen Kwok-Yung, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and professor of HKU’s microbiology department, as well as Francis Yao, medical director of the liver transplant program at the medical center of the University of California, San Francisco.

The department of hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery will launch adult LDLT services at the beginning of 2019 and children LDLT services in the second half of 2019, according to HKU-SZH.

In the future, the hospital will further carry out liver transplantation services and adjuvant therapy for patients with liver cancer, making high-level medical services in-line with international standards accessible to patients.

In addition to clinical services, the department of hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery will also conduct research on the after effects of liver transplant, especially on the key technical issues of pediatric liver transplant and perioperative period management.