Doctors at Renji Hospital have successfully transplanted part of a new mother’s liver to her 80-day-old boy to cure his congenital liver disease and acute liver failure.

He is the youngest child to have received a live liver transplant in China.

The boy's condition had deteriorated over the course of a week and was showing symptoms of acute liver failure, doctors said. Without a transplant, he would not have had long to live. 

"It was a challenging surgery due to the boy’s small age and weight," said leading surgeon Dr Xia Qiang. "The blood vessels are so tiny." 

Doctors said the boy is recovering well from the operation that took six hours and will be discharged soon.

Renji Hospital has carried out over 1,800 liver transplants for children since 2006 and has been the medical facility with the largest number of such surgeries in the world for seven years.