A major hospital in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, has become the world's first to successfully perform a heart transplant during which the heart kept beating, with blood flowing, from the moment it was donated until the surgery was finished.

After the 4.5-hour surgery on June 26, the 67-year-old male recipient now has a sound appetite and sleeps well, with his physical movement greatly improved and the functions of his other organs recovering, said He Xiaoshun, deputy president of First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, at a news conference in Guangzhou on Friday.

The man, identified as Feng, was discharged from the hospital on Friday.

The heart is most sensitive to injury resulting from ischemia, or lack of blood flow, and if it is left in that condition for six hours, the risk for transplantation grows significantly, He said.

Before a traditional heart transplantation, the heart is removed from the donor and stops beating. It is stored in a cold environment before it is transplanted.

Ischemia-free heart transplantation can greatly improve the therapeutic effect and lengthen the patient's life. It can also increase efficiency in using donated hearts to benefit more patients, he said.