Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, has completed 100 liver transplantation surgeries, crossing a milestone in the group's own performance, as well as in the larger context of the State and national transplantation programmes.
The programme was started in 2008, and so far 102 liver transplantation surgeries have been completed. Of these, 22 organs came from living donors, and 80 from brain dead donors. A total of 13 transplants have been done on foreigners, 11 from living donors, and 2 from cadavers.
The smallest patient to receive a liver transplant was 7 months old and weighed 5.5 kg, according to Anand Khakhar, senior consultant liver transplant and hepato-biliary surgery, Apollo Hospitals. He said that the presence of a dedicated team and a centre for paediatric liver transplantation made the difference.
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Enthused by the success of the Chennai unit, the hospital chain was also opening special centres in Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bangalore, and Ahmedabad.
Liver failure is a potentially fatal condition in which the liver progressively stops performing, leading to episodes of jaundice, accumulation of fluid in the body, bloody vomiting, and confusion.
Some of the causes include excess alcohol consumption, Hepatitis (B and C) infections, and certain auto-immune conditions, Dr. Khakhar explained.
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Prathap Reddy, chairman, Apollo Hospitals, said it was necessary to celebrate the gesture of a family that is steeped in grief, but has consented to allow the organs of their kin to be donated.
It was clinical and service excellence with team work that had helped the hospital achieve the kind of records it had managed, he said.
The focus will now be equally on teaching and research sectors as well, Preetha Reddy, MD, Apollo Hospitals, said.