HYDERABAD: Doctors at PACE hospital here have successfully performed a liver transplant surgery on an 8-year-old boy who weighed just 12 kg. The boy was suffering from a rare disorder called Alagille Syndrome in which the bile ducts (canal system) inside the liver do not develop leading to jaundice, severe itching and eventually liver failure.“The child was only 3 feet tall and his weight should have been about 28 kg. He was very frail and extremely high risk for transplantation”, said Dr Gov-ind Verma, chief hepatologist.
Alagille Syndrome is an extremely rare genetic disorder seen in less than one in lakh births.“His father came forward to donate a part of his liver. However, it was a difficult surgery as the portal vein to the liver was blocked, needing multiple revisions and complex reconstruction,” said Dr R Phani Krishna, transplant surgeon.The child recovered well and was discharged by the third week.
Patient recovering well, says surgeon
The child has put on 1 kg in the past three weeks and we expect him to catch up his weight and height milestones in the coming years, said Dr Dhiraj Agarwal, consultant hepatologist.