Infant gets transplanted heart from 3-year-old girl

A ten-month-old boy has survived heart transplant surgery at a hospital in central China's Wuhan city. The heart came from a three-year-old girl, and the baby boy is the youngest ever recipient of a heart transplant in China, a local newspaper said.

The boy's condition was stable when he was moved to a normal ward from the ICU on Tuesday after more than 20 days of struggle.

Born last November, the boy was diagnosed with critical heart disease in August and his only chance of survival was a heart transplant.

The operation was performed on September 23, the same day his donor passed away in Jiangxi province.

Experts said it's very difficult to perform a transplant operation on an infant, as the blood vessels are very soft and the heart is no larger than an egg.

The little girl had agreed to donate all of her organs, and five patients have benefited from her contributions.

The boy's parents said they felt very grateful for the girl and her family.