BENGALURU: A 13-year-old girl battling end-stage liver disease since infancy was given a new lease of life after undergoing a successful liver transplant at SPARSH Hospital, Yeshwanthpur, using the donated liver of a five-year-old child.
Lakshmi Priya was diagnosed with biliary atresia, a rare congenital condition affecting the bile ducts, soon after birth. She underwent a Kasai portoenterostomy in infancy, but her liver function gradually deteriorated over the years. She experienced persistent jaundice, poor growth, recurrent hospital admissions and episodes of gastrointestinal bleeding caused by portal hypertension.
In March this year, doctors conducted a multidisciplinary evaluation and concluded that a liver transplant was her only chance of survival. Her parents were unable to donate because of medical reasons, leaving her dependent on a deceased donor transplant.
The breakthrough came when the liver of a five-year-old child from Mysuru became available through organ donation. According to the hospital, the family’s village, Variyapuram, also came together to raise funds for the surgery, helping them meet the cost of treatment.
Dr Goutham Kumar, Consultant, HPB and Liver Transplant Services at SPARSH Hospital, said Lakshmi had lived with severe liver disease for most of her childhood and that the transplant offered her an opportunity to grow, study and live like other children.