Manipal Hospitals perform first living donor liver transplants in Andhra Pradesh
VIJAYAWADA: Manipal Hospitals, Vijayawada achieved a milestone by becoming the only hospital in Andhra Pradesh to perform living donor liver transplants in both adults and children.
Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) has several advantages over cadaveric liver transplantation. LDLT is performed before deterioration of the patient condition and also gives time to optimise and stabilise the patient and choose suitable donor thereby reducing the mortality and overall morbidity. Speaking on the occasion, Manipal Hospitals consultant liver transplant surgeon Dr. Renu Kumar said, “During the past one year, we performed four living donor liver transplants as there were no cadaver donors.”
Explaining about one of the cases, he said a seven-year-old was suffering from ‘Budd-Chiari syndrome’ a very rare condition, affecting one in a million adults. She was also found to have a rare associated thrombotic condition called as “Homocysteinemia’.
The only solution for this condition was a liver transplantation. Although she was registered in “Jeevandhan Cadaveric Programme” but in view of rapidly deteriorating clinical condition of the child, her mother came forward for living donor liver donation.
After thorough donor evaluation of the mother, she was found to be fit for liver donation. The surgery was very difficult and required vena caval replacement in such a small child. Post-operative recovery was eventful. Now one year two months post-transplant both the mother and child are doing well.
In another case, no organ was available from Jeevandhan for a 58-year-old, who was suffering from liver failure due to auto immune hepatitis. Therefore, his son came forward to donate liver and is currently leading a normal life.
Speaking on the occasion, Hospital Director Dr. Sudhakar Kantipudi said, “This is an important milestone for our hospital. I am extremely delighted, as we are successfully running a living donor liver transplant programme in our hospital. Ours is the only hospital in AP to perform both cadaveric and living donor transplantations in both adults and children.’’