Okayama University Hospital said Friday it has succeeded in the world’s first autotransplantation operation using cooling conservation techniques to remove a man’s lung, extract cancer from it and put it back in the body.

The operation can protect a cancer patient from breathing failure and improve the quality of life.

The hospital said the operation was performed last month on a man in his 60s from Hiroshima Prefecture who was suffering from advanced cancer in the right lung and other parts.

It decided to perform the autotransplantation operation because it would not cause rejection or breathing problems from simply removing the lung.

In the operation, a conservation solution for transplantation was injected into the extracted right lung and cancer was removed after a cooling treatment was applied to last for eight hours. The lung was put back into the body after no cancer was confirmed in the lung.

The patient recovered his vital capacity up to about 70 percent and can play golf and do other exercise, according to the hospital.