A complex domino liver transplant has been performed on two patients using one donated liver at a city hospital.
The procedure was performed at the Apollo Hospitals on a 34-year-old patient with a rare metabolic disorder called Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy (FAP) and a second patient suffering from end-stage liver disease with decompensation.
According to doctors, patients with FAP, a metabolic disorder, have a mutation, which leads to deposition of abnormal proteins in various tissues of the body. It manifests as crippling gait and balance disorder, bowel and bladder disturbances, among others, which progresses over time.
The diagnosis is usually made in the third decade of life and patients succumb within 10-15 years of diagnosis without curative treatment. As most of the abnormal protein is synthesized in the liver, liver transplant is a curative option that enables them to lead a normal healthy life.
The other patient with end-stage liver disease was wait-listed for a liver transplant and was not expected to get a liver through the waiting list anytime soon.
“Liver transplantation was the only solution for both patients and this extraordinary procedure allowed us to use one donated liver to save two lives,” said Dr. Anand Khakhar, Senior Consultant, Transplant & HPB Surgeon, Apollo Hospitals, who led the surgical team.
