A city hospital has transplanted a portion of the liver taken from Mr. Richard to save the life of his 16-year old niece.
B. Steffy was diagnosed with acute liver failure and hepatic coma.
She needed an urgent liver transplant operation.
She was brought to PSG Hospitals where she was put on the super urgent listing on the Tamil Nadu Organ Society (TNOS).
However, there was no liver available for 48 hours.
As Steffy’s condition deteriorated, her uncle came forward to donate a part of his liver.
Taking portion of a liver from a living person is possible when the donor is a relative, said Dr. L. Venkatkrishnan, Chief Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist.
Committee
An urgent committee appointed by the DHMRS (Director of Health Medical Rural Services) headed by Dr. A. Edwin Joe met with PSG Hospital Dean Dr. Ramalingam. Within 24 hours, the committee approved the surgery and it was performed by the HPB (hepato-pancreato-biliary) & Liver Transplant surgeons Dr. Gursharan Singh, Dr. Biku Joseph John and Dr. S Swaminathan along with the Anaesthesiology and critical care team of Dr. Maninder Kaur and Dr. M.S. Prashanth Kumar.
The surgery lasted 14 hours where half the liver was removed from the uncle and transplanted into the patient .
“The patient has a new lease of life, the new liver is functioning well. The uncle’s remnant liver is also functioning and regenerating well. The girl will be able to go to school in a month’s time” said Dr. Singh.
He added that “Living Related Liver Transplantation should be considered as an alternative to cadaveric liver transplantation, especially since many patients die during the waiting period to get a liver”.
