A BRADFORD teenager with an incredibly rare and complex condition has been cured after what doctors described as "world-first" treatment.

Kai Xue, 13, is one of just 21 globally recorded cases of a lymphatic condition called Wild syndrome.

She also suffered from severe chylous ascites, where lymphatic fluid collects in spaces within the abdomen.

But following a five-week stay, she has now been discharged from Staffordshire Children's Hospital at Royal Stoke after surgeons managed to fix a leak in her liver and 28 litres of fluid was successfully drained from her abdomen.

Kai's mum Ning Chen said: "Throughout Kai's childhood we were under the care of a number of different hospitals to try to find out what the matter was, but nobody knew the cause.

"We tried everything, from restrictive diets to even flying to China for treatment.

"Having been transferred to so many hospitals, we're very excited to finally be going home. 

"I still cannot believe it."

Dr Mona Mossad, consultant interventional radiologist at Royal Stoke, said Kai was in a "very difficult situation" as the build-up of lymphatic fluid into her abdomen was causing pressure on her internal organs.

They began with the dilatation of the thoracic duct to improve lymphatic drainage, a procedure doctors said had not been carried out in the UK on a child before and only a handful of times on an adult.

But this failed to work and Kai was still accumulating fluid in her abdomen.

Surgeons then looked to see if the liver was the cause of the leak.

Dr Mossad added: "This was a very challenging procedure.

"Because of Kai's age and size, we had to especially order smaller needles that would work.

"We successfully managed to find a large leak that was going into her abdominal cavity from the left lobe in her liver and were able to repair the leak using a special surgical glue."

Dr Yvonne Slater, consultant paediatric gastroenterologist, said: "We are all over the moon for Kai, who is the first child to undergo this treatment anywhere in the world."

Kai’s mum added: "Kai is so special to me and I would like to say a very big thank you to everybody for working hard to look after her.

"I'm so happy for the excellent care, and everybody was so nice and helpful and they tried their best to help us.

"The whole team is amazing."