Chinese doctors have used a 21st Century "water knife" to save the life of a liver tumor patient at Shanghai's Huashan Hospital.

Surgeons used the water knife, which sprays a high pressure stream, in a 30-minute operation on a farmer from Anhui Province.

The water knife can selectively cut pathological tissues without damaging nerves, and reduce blood loss and operation times.

The diameter of the tumor, which contained one liter of blood, was 33 centimeters (13 inch). Doctors say that traditional surgery may have caused fatal bleeding.

Doctors say that the patient recovered satisfactorily and left hospital two weeks after the surgery conducted on January 29.

(China Daily March 6, 2002)