CHENNAI: Doctors at MGM Healthcare Hospital performed a ‘living donor’ liver transplant on an 11-month-old boy from Odisha who was diagnosed with liver cancer. The baby was also diagnosed with Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, a rare genetic disorder.
The infant with the rare disorder, which has an incidence of affecting one in 10,500 to 13,700 newborns globally, was admitted in July. He was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma (liver cancer). The boy had undergone eight cycles of chemotherapy in other hospitals, according to the press release.
The infant weighed 7 kg, and doctors were faced with multiple challenges, including post-chemotherapy complications. The doctors reduced the size of the liver donated by a 42-year-old donor from TN and transplanted it into the child in a 12-hour-long surgery, the release added. The child is now active. No tumour was observed on follow-up imaging.
Since awareness of such kinds of liver cancers in paediatric age groups is very low, the option of a liver transplant for complex cases is generally not considered. Early referral to specialised liver centres is the key to cure such cancer, said Dr Karthik Mathivanan, senior consultant and associate director, Institute of Liver Transplant, MGM Healthcare Hospital, in the release.