Doctors at Fortis Hospital in Noida claim to have saved the life of 47-year-old George Ikuje Obe from Nigeria, who was suffering from Budd-Chiari Syndrome (BCS) for the past 12 years.
The 14-hour surgery, performed last month, was led by Liver Transplant Division director Vivek Vij along with a team of eight surgeons and 14-doctors.
The surgery comprised joining the liver with the heart through a passage created out of a vein from the liver, along with conducting the transplant.
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“The patient is doing well and will remain on anti-coagulation drug for life,” said Dr. Vivek Vij.
BCS is a condition caused by blockage of the hepatic veins that drains the liver. It presents with the classical set of symptoms like abdominal pain, ascites and liver enlargement. The syndrome can be sudden, acute, chronic, or asymptomatic. If left untreated, it can lead to death due to progressive liver failure. It occurs in one out of a million individuals.
George, suffering from BCS since 2003, was poorly nourished and led a bad quality of life. He was unable to perform daily functions, including walking. His liver was severely enlarged, weighing almost 4.5 kg compared to a normal liver weight of 1.5 kg. He also had to make frequent visits to the hospital for tapping of ascites (draining of fluid accumulated in the abdomen).
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After the initial prognosis, he was diagnosed with clotting in the veins and was put on heavy medication. Over time, the medication ceased to be effective. In search of a treatment for his illness, George visited many countries, including United States and Iran, but returned disappointed due to refusal of further treatment owning to complexity of his illness.
In 2014, almost a decade later, George went to a hospital in the U.K., where it was diagnosed that his whole Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) was blocked. The IVC is the large vein that carries deoxygenated blood from the lower half of the body into the right atrium of the heart. When the patient approached Dr. Vij, his abdomen was filled with water, his liver dysfunctional and his IVC completely blocked.