On the afternoon of June 15, a joint emergency treatment was performed for Mingming (pseudonym), a 1 year and 8 months old child with end-stage dilated cardiomyopathy by a multidisciplinary team consisting of specialists from the departments of Cardiovascular Surgery, Anesthesiology and Organ Transplantation Center in the operation room of West China Hospital, Sichuan University. With the full cooperation of the medical team, a healthy heart was transplanted into Mingming's body, and more than three hours later, the operation was successfully completed. The operation set a record of heart transplantation for the youngest patient in the southwest region, marking the development of heart transplantation in Southwest China to a new height. On June 29, the patient recovered well and was discharged uneventfully. 

Mingming has suffered a lot from birth, including repeated illness and slow development. He was diagnosed with "dilated cardiomyopathy" after 4 months of birth. Compared with normal children, he had a larger heart with poor systolic function. According to the evaluation, the probability of living to 5 years old was only 50%, which made his parents worry a lot. For better treatment, his parents took him from Nanchong to West China Hospital, and visited Prof. An Qi. He received a series of treatments. Since his own heart could no longer work normally, heart transplantation was the only way to save his life.

In the eyes of Prof. An Qi, the most challenging part of pediatric heart transplantation is not surgery. "The largest problem is the shortage of donors. It is difficult to find such a small donor, and there are very strict requirements for matching, age, blood type, etc.; the second is the team's coordination and disposal ability, and surgery, internal medicine, intensive care, anesthesia, and OPO teams must cooperate effectively. Third, the perioperative management of heart transplantation for children is more demanding. It is difficult to prevent infection, protect the myocardium during operation and shut down cardiopulmonary bypass machine. Mingming is very lucky and everything goes smoothly. "

"We are very pleased to see that with the progress of society, more and more people choose to donate organs after death, which is also a way of extending life," An Qi said, adding that this was the biggest feeling he got from the transplantation.