By Xiao Na of the International Health Magazine of Indonesia (English translation by Law Leebao)

Recently while visiting a bookstore in Beijing, this reporter accidentally came across an elegantly printed, brownish thick-covered book entitled “Cryosurgery for Cancer”. The 500000 worded-book with all the diagrams in colours and a summary in English for each chapter was written by Professor Xu Kecheng and Dr. Niu Lizhi and published by the Shanghai Technology and Education Publishers.

The book had forewords and commentaries by a total of six reputed experts in the field of cryoablation therapy from China as well as from overseas. One of them, Professor Zhong Nam Shan, an academician of the Academy of Engineering Sciences of China and president of the Chinese Medical Association, wrote in the foreword “…….as the first book on cryoablation therapy written in China, it has systematically introduced to readers what is cryoablation and its application in treating various types of cancer….. The book reveals the most recent achievements by cryoabalation on treatment of cancer……’ He continued “As a co-worker who has devoted my whole life in the study of lung cancer, I truly salute Dr. Niu Lizhi and his team on their achievements on lung cancer treatment.” Another scholar, Dr. Frank of Italy, the chairman of the International Cryoablation Institute said in the foreword “I was very happy to be able to share the joy on the success of Professor Xu and Dr. Niu in applying cryoablation therapy in more than 3000 cancer cases. Most of these cases were done pecutaneously. This is of utmost importance in the field of minimally invasive therapy. ……. Their excellent works have contributed greatly in clinical application of cryoablation therapy……”

By using the information provided in the book, this reporter made a specific trip to the GuangzhouFudaCancerHospital in Guangzhou, China to interview Professor Xu and Dr. Niu, the authors of the book.

Set Free from Lung Cancer, the No. 1 Killer

n the day in Guangzhou, a production team of the Henan TV was also in Guangzhou to film a production for their ‘The World of Senior Citizens’ programme. Accompanied by Dr. Niu, this reporter followed the team to Fan Yu, a small town at the outskirt of Guangzhou to interview Madam Zhang, an elderly lady.

All the four generations in her family were living together in a big house. Seeing us coming, she enthusiastically asked us to take our seats, offered us tea and fruit. She recognised Dr. Niu who had treated her and held his hands firmly while trying to slip in some money into his pocket. Only upon persuasion of other members of the medical team and her family, she gave up the idea to give Dr. Niu some money as a token of appreciation.

 

It dated back to June 2004. Mdm Zhang, then 94 year old suddenly had severe back pain; she was unable to walk upright. Every night she groaned on bed and was unable to fall asleep. She went to an associate hospital of a university for medical examinations.

 

It was discovered that there was a lump in her left lung to the left of the sixth and seventh thoracic vertebra. The lump was pressing against the spinal cord. The doctor told her children that she had lung cancer which had spread. As she was too old to undergo surgical operation, it was advisable for her to spend the rest of her remaining life peacefully back home.

 

One of her grandchildren who happened to have watched a CCTV programme on cryoabalation therapy by the FudaCanerHospital saw a ray of hope. The next day the family escorted Mdm Zhang to the hospital.

 

On 14th June 2004, under the guidance of CT scan, Dr. Niu injected cryoprobes into the tumour to freeze and thaw it using the argon-helium system. After more than 10 minutes, the tumour cells were killed. The back pain disappeared quickly. Half a month later, the sixth and seven ribs were plastered.

 

During several fellow-ups in the hospital, no sign of new growth was detected. Mdm Zhang could now take care of herself as well as doing some household chores. The hospital and her family were planning to celebrate her 98th birthday next month.

 

That was really incredible. Lung cancer is currently the number one killer especially non-small cell lung carcinoma which cannot be removed by surgical operation. The one year survival rate for lung cancer is less than 20%.

 

But for the past four years Mdm. Zhang, at her old age, had remained healthy and lived a happy life. The recent CT scan showed that there was no progression of the disease. Dr. Niu pointed at a silhouette shown in the CT scan film and informed that it was what was left of the tumour that had been killed.

 

The chapter on lung cancer in the book gave data on the outcomes of cryoablation performed by the hospital. A total of 625 cases of unresectable, non-small cells lung carcinoma were treated. CT scans on 340 cases after a three-month period revealed that in 57.7% of the cases, tumours had either disappeared completely or diminished greatly. A 12 – 38 month’s follow-ups on 340 patients showed that the one year, two years and three years survival rate were 64%, 45% and 32% respectively.

 

According to Dr. Niu, cryoablation can be performed on all types of lung cancer. Percutaneous cryoablation and surgical operation produce identical results but percutaneous cryoblation is a minimally invasive therapy whereby the opening is small as compared to surgical operation. Though surgical operation to remove “small” lung tumour can be performed on elderly patients, the risk is much higher.

 

Percutaneous cryoablation therapy can eliminate lung tumor fast and patients can return home within 2 to 3 days. An 87 year old professor from Qingdao UniversityShandong had a small tumour on his right lung. Doctors had prepared him for surgical operation. However he had a severe lung swelling which might lead to lung failure if surgical operation was performed. His son-in-law, a film producer from Shenzhen, upon learning about cryoablation therapy for lung cancer was available at the GuangzhouFudaCancerHospital, brought the old professor to Guangzhou.

 

On the third day after admission, CT-guided cryoablation therapy was performed. He was discharged on the 6th day. That was four years ago and it is learnt that the old professor is still very active and travels extensively within China as well as overseas to give talks and lectures.

 

This reporter observed how lung cancer was treated in the hospital using cryoablation therapy in combination with other therapies. These therapies include 125iodine seed knife therapy, radiostent therapy, photodynamic therapy and gene therapy etc. A combination of these therapies produces much better results than cryoablation therapy performed alone.

 

A paper by Dr. Niu which would soon be published both nationally and internationally revealed that a total of 840 cases of non small cell lung carcinoma were treated with cryoablation as the main therapy in combination with other therapies. 30.5% of these cases were at the 3rd and 4th stages. After these therapies, 14.4% of the cases experienced a total disappearance of the tumours, 70% of the cases showed that the tumours had diminished in size greatly. The survival rates for one year, 2 years, 3 years, 4 years and 5 years were 68%, 52%, 34%, 26% and 21% respectively. These rates greatly supersede those of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

 

Dr. Niu turned to page 132 of the book and pointed at a CT scan diagram and told a real life story. Liling, was a well known reporter of the Hunan San Xiang Metropolitan News for his news report and pictures on the inferno in the town of Heng Yang, Hunan. For his report on the inferno and the bravery he had displayed, he was awarded as one of the top ten reporters of the year.

 

In February 2006, his mother asked him to write a news report on the FudaCancerHospital because the hospital had cured her brother of cancer. Besides that, she was truly impressed by the hospital which declined to accept the cash reward offered by the patient’s family as a gesture of appreciation to the hospital. But Liling refused his mother’s request because he believed that many hospitals liked to boast and brag. His mother was frustrated and annoyed. She begged her son earnestly to do her the favour.

 

It was two years ago that her brother (Liling’s uncle), an engineer by profession, was diagnosed as suffering from terminal stage lung cancer. Doctors gave him only another 100 days to live. His uncle refused to give up and sought treatments in the FudaCancerHospital.

 

After a series of cryoablation therapy integrated with other therapies, the tumor disappeared. He resumed work and lived many a hundred days after. As Liling’s work required him to be away from home most of the time, he failed to empathize and understand the difficult period his uncle had gone through in his battle against cancer.

 

Liling found it hard to reject his mother’s request. Reluctantly he came to Guangzhou to interview the doctor who had treated his uncle’s disease. After listening and understanding the whole episode, the strong-willed reporter wept. He was sorry for the biased view he had held against hospitals.

 

He submitted an article to be published in his newspaper but it was rejected by the editor who was of the view that any article on hospitals should be dealt with great cautions before publishing. Liling was offended and approached the chief editor personally and said “this article is about my uncle’s struggle for his life against cancer and was written in tears.” At last the article was published in page 2 of the Hunan San Xiang Metropolitan News on 26th February 2006.

 

Conquer the King of Cancer – Liver Cancer

 

Even decades ago, this reporter was well aware of the fatality of liver cancer. It is the commonest cancer in China. Its occurrence is related to hepatitis B. Dr. Wu Meng Chao and Dr. Tang Zhao Xian, well known surgeons in China had contributed greatly in liver cancer treatments. The 5 year survival rate of their patients with small liver tumors came to 70% and above. Liver cancer at its early stage shows little symptoms and is difficult to detect. When it is detected, more often than not, it is at an advanced stage and cannot be removed by surgical operation. What is the best therapy for non resectable tumours was the most discussed medical topic.

 

FDA (USA) approved the use of cryoablation with “Argon-helium Knife” for treatment of liver cancer and prostate cancer in late 1990’s. However, as liver cancer is relatively fewer in U.S. the Americans’ experience in applying cryoablation therapy to treat this disease is quite limited. The GuangzhouFudaCancerHospital, one of the pioneers in China to introduce cryoablation, introduced cryoablation therapy into China in 2000.

 

The hospital developed and used percutaneous cryoablation therapy on liver cancer patients. Up to date, it has treated more than 1000 cases of liver cancer. As recorded in the book “Cryosurgery for Cancer” for the period from March 2001 until March 2005, 550 cases of liver cancer were treated in the hospital. The 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-survival rate of the patients were 86.4%, 72.9%, 51.6% and 45.4% respectively.In addition, there were 360 patients with liver cancer who received combination therapy of cryoablationwith transarterial chemoembolization, 65 cases cryoablation with alcohol injection abalation, 61 cases cryoablation with 125iodine seed implantation. Their survival rateswere much higher than cyoablation therapy performed alone.

 

The results were comparable to those by surgical operations. As cryoablation alone or with other therapies is applicable on patients with non resectable tumours, it can be considered a superior therapy to surgical operation. In a letter from Professor Tang Zhao You, an academician of an academician of the Academy of Engineering Sciences of China and famous specialist of liver cancer, to Professor Xu, Professor Tang praised Professor Xu and Dr. Niu on their achievements in using cryoablation therapy to treat liver cancer patients and complemented them for publishing their book “Cryosurgery for Cancer”.

 

There are more than a hundred hospitals in China that have adopted cryoablation therapy, but only a handful of them have mastered the skills. To find out the success formula of the hospital, this reporter visited and had an interview with Professor Xu who is a well known digestive disease specialist and the author of the book “Modern Therapy of Gastrointestinal Diseases”, which is extensively used as a compulsory reference text in many hospitals. He was trained in the Chiba University, Japan where he did his research on liver cancer under the guidance of Professor Kunio Okuda, a world renowned specialist of liver cancer.The GGTII, which, as a marker of liver cancer,has been widely adopted by many hospitals in China, was invented by Professor Xu in 1980’s.

 

Professor Xu said that a doctor must be like a skillful craftsman in delivering treatments to patients. He praised Dr. Niu who, with his training in cardiothoracic surgery, had exhibited great skills and precision in performing percutaneous abalation. Of the more than 3000 cases of cryoablation performed by Dr. Niu, none of them encountered any mishap.

While interviewing Professor Xu, this reporter happened to meet the vice editor of the book “Cryosurgery for Cancer”, Professor Hu Yi Ze who graduated from the Royal College of Surgery (U.K) as a specialist of hepatobiliary surgery. He had treated several hundred cases of liver cancer by integrating surgery with cryoablation therapy.

He said that the biggest problem encountered in removing liver tumors solely by surgery was the recurrence of tumours. Cryoablation therapy freezes thus kills non-resectable liver tumors and the destruction in situ of neoplasms which also elicits an immunologic reaction (cryo-immunolization ) against cancer and reduces the recurrence of tumors. In the foreword of the book, Dr. Zhong Nan Shan complemented Professor Hu for incorporating cryoablation with surgery which, besides providing one more integrative therapy for liver cancer treatment, had also raised the success rate in liver cancer treatment and the survival rate of cancer patients.

While in the hospital, this reporter also met a former liver cancer patient by the name of Tan You Hao, who came back for a regular medical examination. He was an ex-police. In 2002, he experienced pain in his upper abdomen. He went to a hospital for investigation and discovered that he had liver cancer in his right liver, about 14mmx15mm in size. It was unresectable. He received percutaneous cryoabalation therapy in the FudaCancerHospital. After he had been cured, he left the police force and started his own business. He treasured very much his remaining life, which he termed as extra life-earned.

According to Professor Xu, treating cancer demands an integration of science, technologies and art. Each patient’s condition differs from that of others and hence each patient requires tailor-made therapies for his/her disease.

In treating liver cancer, it requires an integration of various therapies such as iodine seed implantation therapy with cryoablation therapy, cryoablation therapy with vascular stanching therapy, cryoablaion therapy with chemical therapy and cryoablation with immunology therapy etc. The integration of these therapies leads to a synergistic effect and produces better outcomes.

On 26th January 2007, the eve of the Chinese New Year, FudaCancerHospital organized a gathering for their cancer patients. Many of these patients had been declared incurable before, but they had survived for more than two years after receiving treatments in the hospital. During the gathering, all of them went up the stage one by one to share their experience in their battle against death in the hospital. The Hunan engineer, who suffered from liver cancer mentioned earlier, told the audience how he had managed to break the “prophecy” that he had “only 100 more days to live”. He said in a slow and steady voice that “I told myself that I must not die as I have a 90 year old mother and a university-going son to take care of…..”

Many in the audience were deeply touched by his sharing and wept. A young man among the audience rushed up the stage and hugged him. That young man was none other than his nephew, the reporter of the Hunan San Xiang Metropolitan News.

Before he could utter any words, he started to weep openly. “I am not staging a show! Without the FudaCancerHospital’s treatment, this uncle of mine would have died a long time ago.” he said.

A middle age man went up the stage and said “I am a doctorate holder, the doctor-in-charge ofthe tumor department at XXXHospital in Guangzhou. Why does our hospital have very few such recorded cases? This is because we are unable to come up with tailor-made therapies for our patients. When they come for cancer treatments in our hospital, all we do is to give them chemotherapy or radiotherapy until they meet their death.”

Another medical specialist went up the stage and said “What a shame? I am a professor, the doctor-in-charge of the cancer department at XX Associated Hospital of Zhongshan University (Guangzhou). We have much better facilities and equipment than the FudaCancerHospital but why are we unable to produce results comparable to those of the FudaCancerHospital? It is because we have got our concept wrong. After hearing what the patients here have said, I realize that when we treat cancer, we must not target the cancer alone. More importantly, we must focus on the patients and adopt a holistic approach for the overall wellbeing of the patients to ensure that they can have their life prolonged.”

Indeed during a man’s entire life, he co-exists with diseases. The World Health Organisation, W.H.O, has defined cancer as a chronic disease. The currently prevailing cancer treatment strategy is to minimize harm inflicted by cancer to a tolerant level and to control and minimize cancer’s threats to human life. This strategy is slowly gaining acceptance and is the concept and strategy adopted by the FudaCancerHospital.

Challenge the King of Kings – Pancreatic Cancer

If liver cancer is king of cancer, then pancreatic cancer can be considered as the King of kings. Not long ago (6th September 2007) the great world tenor, Luciano Pavarotti died of pancreatic cancer. This has made people even more fearful of pancreatic cancer.

This reporter referred to the chapter on pancreatic cancer in the book “Cryosurgery for Cancer”. On page 222 of the book, it was recorded that during the period between 2001 and April 2006, the FudaCancerHospital had used cryoabaltion therapy to treat 26 cases of pancreatic tumours of different sizes between 2.3mm to 6.2mm. In 14 of the cases, the pancreatic cancer had spread to the lymph nodes around the pancreas, 7 cases with cancer spread to liver.10 cases were treated using surgical abalation therapy, 16 cases by percutaneous cryoabalation therapy. Follow-ups were conducted in 21 cases for a period between 4 to 21 months. Out of this, 8 patients (38%) survived and lived for more than a year.

Professor Xu showed a paper to this reporter which has been published in a magazine “Technology in Cancer Research and Treatment” USA. It was a summary on the follow-up cases including the 26 cases of pancreatic cancer patients mentioned above. CT evaluations were made after a period of three months on 38 patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer who had received cryoablation therapy. 23.6% of the patients experienced total tumors disappearance. 42.1% of the patients experienced partially disappearance of their tumours. 26.3% of the cases remained stable. The half-year, 1-, 2- and 3- year survival rates were 94.7%, 49.4%, 21.8% and 5.4% respectively. Four patients lived for more than 2 years and one patient lived healthily for more than 42 months.

This was a considerable achievement. The Chinese Medical Association conducted a survey on 1500 pancreatic patients several years ago. The survey showed that none of the patients lived up to 2 years. But the GuangzhouFudaCancerHospital had a number of pancreatic patients who had lived for more than two to three years. “Was that really true?” this reporter asked herself. Despite of all these records, this reporter insisted on seeing and meeting a former cancer patient before she could be totally convinced.

In Professor Xu’s office, this reporter came across an Indonesian newspaper, the International Daily. There was a report on the interview by an Indonesian reporter with three pancreatic patients.

One of the patients, Mrs. Hon, 56 years old, from Medan, Indonesia was diagnosed to suffer from pancreatic cancer in Penang, Malaysia two years ago. When the doctor tried to perform an operation, it was discovered that the tumor was unresectable. The doctor could not do anything but sealed up the surgical opening from the operation. As a last resort, Mrs. Hon went to Guangzhou to seek treatment in the FudaCancerHospital. She did not give herself much chance.

She was given iodine seed knife therapy in combination with cryoablation therapy. Now she had recovered from the disease. From her photograph published in the daily, she looked healthy, cheerful and without any sign of sickness.

Another patient was a high ranking officer from Jakarta, Indonesia. He had lived for more than one and a half years now. The third patient was an engineer, Mr. Huang from City of Jiangmenin Guangdong province.

Jiangmen is 130 km away from Guangzhou. It takes only two hours to travel there from Guangzhou using the highway. This reporter hurried to City of Jiangmen. At the ground floor of an ordinary looking apartment this reporter was met with a friendly old couple who welcome her warmly.

Upon learning the purpose of this reporter’s visit, Mr. Huang talked excitedly of what he had gone through three years ago. Early July, 2004, Mr. Huang, who was then 81 years old found a sudden increase in frequency in passing stool. There was slight pain in his upper abdomen.He went for CT scan at the JiangmenHospital. Results showed that he had pancreatic cancer at the tail of pancreas. Mr. Huang was a bridge maintenance engineer who knew hardly anything on medical field.

However he did know the severity of the disease as he had a few friends who suffered from pancreatic cancer. These friends did not survive for more than half a year after surgery. Mrs. Huang was a former nurse and was fully aware of its fatality. After some in-depth discussions, they came to a consensus not to have any surgical operation. They had heard and knew that the FudaCancerHospital was well reputed for their minimally invasive therapy.The couple packed and left for Guangzhou on 14th July. Mr. Huang was admitted into the hospital.

Three days later, under the guidance of CT scan, doctors performed percutaneous cryoablation therapy on Mr. Huang. At the same time, 30 pieces of iodine seeds (radioactive rods) were implanted into the pancreatic tumour. A week later, doctors performed artery invasive therapy.

After two weeks, Mr. Huang was discharged. He had regular semi-annual CT scan or ultrasound at the hospital. So far no tumor recurrence was detected. Mr. Huang said “Now I sleep soundly every night. My appetite is good. The only problem is I have put on some extra weight and I am limping due to my knee joint injury.” Mrs. Huang said excitedly that they would soon leave for Canada and the States to visit their children residing there and to spend some time with them.

This reporter requested Professor Xu to talk on therapies for pancreatic cancer from a professional prospective. Professor Xu referred to a book written by him and Professor Zhang Zhi Hong entitled “Clinical Pancreaology”. According to him there was no effective therapy for pancreatic cancer yet. Both chemotherapy and radiotherapy had been found ineffective. Less than 5% of pancreatic tumors were resectable.

However, cryoablation therapy had brought a ray of hope to pancreatic cancer patients. He referred further to an article written by Dr. Korpan, an Austrian medical practitioner in an English medical book “Basic of Cryosurgery”. Dr. Korpan found that the resectable rate for pancreatic tumors was very low. He discovered that cryoablation therapy was suitable for pancreatic cancer. From the cases he had handled, quite a number of his pancreatic cancer patients managed to stay alive for a substantial period. Based on Dr. Korpan’s studies, Professor Xu develops further the use of cryoablation therapy for pancreatic cancer. They perform cryoablation therapy on pancreatic tumors not only in laparotomy,but also via percutaneous mode. The latter mode is mini-invasive to patients.

Guided by CT scan, cryoprobes are inserted into the tumors to freeze and then thaw them thus leading to cells death. They also use integrated approaches by combining cryoablation therapy with other therapies like iodine radioactive seeds implantation therapy, interventionaltherapy and immunotherapy. These therapies cause little injury to patients and produce far better results than those of conventional therapies.

Heart cancer

Throughout the interview, this reporter was deeply touched and that emotional feeling became greater and greater with the progression of the interview. There was a chapter on heart cancer in the book “Cryosurgery for Cancer”. Heart! This was deemed a prohibited area. Yet Dr. Niu took the courage to venture into it. Dr. Niu pointed at a CT scan diagram in the book and showed this reporter three cases of heart cancer.

One of the three heart cancer patients was a seventeen years old girl from Beijing. She had pericardiac-vascularsarcoma. That was a very rare form of tumour and there were only seven recorded cases and all the seven patients did not live for more than three months. The girl received operations in Beijing but the tumor recurred three months later. She came to the GuangzhouFudaCancerHospital. Dr. Niu performed cryoablation therapy on her as well as iodine seed implantation therapy. Her condition improved significantly after the therapies. Unfortunately she died of heart and lung failures seventeen months later.When Dr. Niu talked about that Beijing girl, his voice hoarsened and there was a deep feeling of regret and sorrow in him. Tears came to his eyes.

But when he went on to talk about another patient from Hubei, he became excited again. That patient was a 67 years old lady who had malignant pericardiac sarcoma. Her family members had read news report on the cardiac sarcoma girl from Beijing who received treatments in the FudaCancerHospital. Without any hesitation they brought her to Guangzhou to receive treatments.

The hospital applied a combination of cyroablation therapy, iodine seeds implantation therapy and capsule implantation immunotherapy. Three and a half years had passed and she was still in a healthy condition. The third patient was an American Chinese from California who had metastatic cardiac tumour from lung cancer.

He had previously received three operations in the USA but the tumour recurred. He came to the FudaCancerHospital and was given an integrated therapy approach with cryoablation as the main therapy. After a period of one and half years, his condition did not deteriorate. The hospital had received recent CT scans and MRI films from the patient. According to the medical report from the US, the tumour had reduced in size significantly.

This reporter also discovered something that the FudaCancerHospital possessed that was not found in other hospitals. The hospital was only set up seven years ago in a moderate scale. A new hospital block had just been built and would be operational next year. Yet the hospital had achieved success that was hard to match. It was neither due to its facilities nor its prerequisite but because of its spirit of challenge to the max.

Elephant-face Man

This reporter recalled a two series TV programme entitled “Save the Elephant-face Man” broadcasted by CCTV in May 2007. In March 2006, the Sin Chew Daily, the Chinese newspaper with the largest circulation in Malaysia reported about an “elephant-face person” who appealed for help. She was an eighteen years old girl called Hong XiuHui who had huge tumours in her head. She had earlier sought help from hospitals in Taiwan, Australia and other countries but did not get any response.

Upon knowing of her predicaments, Professor Xu went on his own expense to visit her at her home town, Alor Star in the Malaysian state of Kedah on 3rd April 2006. In an ordinary looking house in Alor Star, Professor Xu saw Hong Xiuhui and he was shocked. In his more than forty years of medical practice, he had never come across anyone with a facial tumour as huge as that of Xiuhui.

The huge tumor was drooping from the left upper side of her face till her chest. Her left eye was damaged and her face was totally distorted. Professor Xu was shocked again when another young man, Chen Jiaxin, appeared in front of him. Chen Jiaxin had a huge tumour on his face,too. Both of them had been burdened with their huge facial tumours for a long time and were living a pitiful life.

On 15th May 2006, with the financial assistance of the local Chinese community, Xiuhui and Jiaxin came to the FudaCancerHospital in Guangzhou. After thorough medical examinations, it was concluded that they suffered from benign neurofibromatosis which grew with a malignant mode. Hong Xiuhui’s tumor had intruded into her brain.

After several collective consultations in great depth, the doctors in the hospital concluded that the tumours of Chen Jiaxin could be treated but those of Xiuhui would incur very high risks and it would be better to leave them alone. However,as the president of the hospital, Professor Xu believed that it was feasible to remove the tumours safely through operation and there was no turning back. He summoned all the specialists and heads of various departments to carry out the operation.

They stanched the blood vessels one by one to prevent excessive hemorrhage. Then they applied cryoablation therapy to freeze the tumors part by part. Finally all the tumors were excised. The biggest worry prior to the operation was excessive hemorrhage. It was estimated that as much as 3000ml of blood could be lost. But not much blood was lost and Hong Xiuhui required only 1500ml of blood transfusion.

This reporter viewed the video clips of the operation and saw that on several occasions, tears rolled down the cheek of Professor Xu. How good and peaceful our world would be if all doctors were like Professor Xu. On the day before the two Malaysian patients returned to Malaysia, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of the Guangdong Provincial Government held a farewell party for them.

CCTV gave a special coverage to honour the efforts taken by the hospital to save the two elephant persons and desribed the success of the operations as a medical miracle. In fact, this young hospital had successful saved the life of many cancer patients who had been given up hope and declared incurable by many other hospitals. CCTV had broadcasted fifteen special reports /live telecasts about the hospital. The Xinhua News Agency had published two special reports and one report for internal reference. The People’s Daily had released three specific reports.

On 24th July 2007, the Guangzhou Fuda Cancer Hospital operated and removed part of the massive, crippling tumours drooping from the head and face of Huang Chuncai, the China’s very own “elephant man” who came from a remote village in Hunan.

The tumours removed during the first operation weighed 12.5 kg. News on the first operation was reported by CCTV at the “Lunch Hour News” on the day of the operation, later, the news was also carried by many news agencies both local and overseas and by the Reuters and the Associated Press as well. The heading of the news report by the Reuters was “Breakthrough in Tumour Surgery”.

This reporter recalled what Mr. Lv Weixiong, the Director of Overseas Chinese Affairs, said in the farewell party for Hong Xiuhui and Chen Jiaxin, Mr. Lv said: “The medical miracle created by the Guangzhou Fuda Cancer Hospital makes me realize fully what is demanded of doctors and what is meant by the phrase “Doctors must have a heart of parental love,” That is really true to the words.

 

“Medical Miracles Originate from Doctors