Chinese doctors in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, successfully treated a highly sensitized uremic patient by a kidney transplant in combination with an auxiliary liver transplant, China Daily learned on Monday.

It was the first such operation in China and considered a breakthrough in solving the medical problem for such highly sensitized patients in need of kidney transplants, said Yuan Jianlin, director of Urology at Xijing Hospital under the Fourth Military Medical University in the city and team leader for the operation.

The patient Gao Hui (not his real name) received an allogenic kidney transplant nine years ago but the transplanted kidney lost its function one year later, and he had to rely on hemodialysis to sustain his life.

"Such highly sensitized recipients are not uncommon and kidney transplantation for this kind of patient would often fail because of hyperacute rejection, and there were no effective and workable treatments for such patients although various methods were explored at home and abroad in the past years," Yuan said.

In order to save Gao's life, doctors at Xijing hospital tried a new surgical approach — a kidney transplant combined with an auxiliary liver transplant.

The operation was performed on March 6 and lasted 8 hours and 25 minutes. The patient is in now in a stable condition with stable renal function, and is expected to soon be discharged.