HYDERABAD: A six-week-old baby weighing just 2.9 kg successfully underwent a living-donor liver transplant at Rainbow Children’s Hospital, Banjara Hills, in a complex procedure involving one of the smallest paediatric recipients in South India. According to hospital officials, the baby developed jaundice during the first week of life and progressed to severe liver failure by the third week. Doctors diagnosed Gestational Alloimmune Liver Disease (GALD) after ruling out infections, metabolic disorders and genetic conditions.
Treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin and two exchange transfusions failed to halt the deterioration, following which the medical team decided to proceed with a liver transplant.
The baby received a 62-gram liver graft donated by his mother. The graft was reduced to match the infant’s size. Surgeons faced significant challenges due to the baby’s extremely small blood vessels and limited abdominal space, requiring precise vascular connections and positioning of the graft.
Rainbow Children’s Hospital officials said its paediatric liver transplant programme across Hyderabad, Chennai and Bengaluru has performed 107 transplants, with an overall survival rate of 95%.