Since Prof. Wu Jieping performed  successful kidney transplant surgery for the first time in 1960 ， China  has carried out many transplant operations for kidneys， lungs， hearts，  pancreas and bone marrow. The type and number of operations have grown，  and the success rate has greatly increased. China is the leader in this  field ， according to the latest Beijing Review.

    Prof. Tang Xiaoda ， chairman of the Chinese Society of Dialysis and  Transplant， said that kidney transplants in China have been the earliest  performed and are the most technologically developed. As the operation  can now be conducted in 29 provinces， municipalities and autonomous regions，  it has become the common way to treat kidney ailments. By the end of 2000，  a total of 34 ，832 patients had gone through kidney transplant in China.  Last year alone ， over 5 ，000 transplant operations were carried out.

    Meanwhile ， much progress has been made in other organ transplants，  with increasing number of cases and improving rate of success. One patient  with a transplanted liver has survived for over seven years ， and the  longest time patients with a transplanted heart ， lung ， and pancreas  have survived is eight， six and seven years respectively.

    The key problem with organ transplantation operations is to control  the risk of rejection. Since the 1980s， with development in immunity  control ， the survival rate and quality of daily life of Chinese patients  with organ transplants have experienced great improvement. The survival  rate of kidney transplant patients has increased from 50 percent in the  1980s to 90 percent today. The longest-surviving patient has lived for  over 24 years.

    The public‘s willingness to donate their own organs has promoted  to some extent the development of organ transplantation in China. According  to incomplete statistics， by the end of 2000 ， 181 cases of kidney transplants  between relatives had been conducted in 37 hospitals. The Wuhan Tongji  Hospital carried out 37 cases ， with 34 patients still surviving. The  one-year， five-year and 10-year survival rate has reached 97 percent ，  90 percent and 82 percent ， respectively.

    Some experts say that despite great progress in organ transplantation，  there are still many difficulties ， including a lack of organ donors  and a lack of legal protection. To improve the quality of operations and  develop new medicine for immune control ， many efforts are being made  to push forward the organ transplantation cause ， especially in research  and medicine administration.