Tibetan boy's new life after curing hydatid disease

Tibetan child Senglung Dondrup's story can help people better understand China's healthcare progress.

In July 2016, the 9-year-old child got sick when he was in Shiqu County of Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province for his summer vacation. He had a fever from 1 pm to 7 pm every day for more than 10 days, telling his mother that he felt very tired when playing with friends. His mother took him to the local hospital for examination but found it was not tuberculosis as she suspected. Then in Chengdu City, the boy was diagnosed as suffering badly from hydatid disease.

After seeing CT imaging, Professor Wang Wentao, deputy director of the hepatobiliary surgery department at West China Hospital, said the boy's liver was covered with four cystic masses and suffered damage to the central vein. Hydatid disease is a parasitic infestation, a serious threat to the health of people in grazing areas. The parasites, once inside the human body, would slowly enlarge fluid-filled cysts most commonly in the liver, causing serious liver damage and even death.

Sichuan has included hydatid disease of the liver in the program of centralized treatment of major diseases, which has greatly reduced the financial burden on poor patients in Shiqu County hit hard by the infestation.

The child's mother said "Professor Wang Wentao was very kind and gave detailed information about the condition. He also told us not to worry about the money, because the state attaches importance to this issue and has a centralized treatment policy for severe illnesses."

There are two standard ways to help the child, but each has its own shortcoming. Surgical removal of the cysts is the first method, but it means the boy would have a small segment of liver left and there’s a high chance of complications, which may lead to liver failure or death. The second way is through a liver transplant, which means the boy will have to take drugs for the rest of his life. Professor Wang adopted a third option after consultations with colleagues in the hospital’s department of radiology. A surgery removed a larger infected portion of the liver, let the remaining healthy tissue grow for three months to help restore normal function, and then the second surgical removal was performed. Both surgeries proved successful. Two years have passed, and the boy has fully recovered, going to school and living his life just like other healthy children.