SHANGHAI, Aug. 10 -- FOR the first time in eight-month-old Zhao Mingrui's life, his heart is no longer a visible bulge under the skin and his breathing is no longer labored and fast.

A four-hour operation at Fudan University Children's Hospital yesterday gave the child a chance at a healthy life after surgeons repaired his heart and breastbone.

Doctors are now confident that Zhao can be discharged in two weeks if his condition remains stable and say he will be able to develop normally from now on.

Zhao suffered from a rare disease called the Pentalogy of Cantrell which produces five severe symptoms, including damage to the breast bone, diaphragm and abdominal wall.

The abnormality occurs in less than five in every one million births with less than 100 cases reported worldwide so far. The Fudan hospital treated the nation's first case last year.

Zhao is China's first case of the Pentalogy of Candrell accompanied with a serious congenital heart disease, which has made the surgery very challenging.

Born to a farmer's family in Tai'an, Shandong Province, Zhao only weighs 5.5 kilogram, the weight of a healthy one-month-old baby. He has only been able to digest small amounts of milk and constantly vomits. Even when he is sound asleep, his breathing is heavier and more labored than that of a healthy child.

"The disease has seriously affected his development," said Dr. Tao Qilin of the cardio-surgery department of Fudan University's Children's Hospital. The hospital has successfully completed about 1,000 complicated congenital heart operations in recent years.

The boy was brought to Shanghai from Shandong on July 18 after a 10-hour train journey.

In yesterday's surgery doctors repaired the damaged breastbone and placed the heart inside the chest cavity while correcting the congenital heart disease at the same time.