CHENNAI: Amed Hafidh, a 6-month-old baby from Zanzibar, Tanzania who was detected with jaundice and irreversible damage of the liver due to peculiar disease of the bile ducts, underwent liver transplant at Miot Hospital recently.
The Director, Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary & Solid Organ Transplant, Dr R Surendran said that after just 15 days of birth, the baby was detected with jaundice and bleeding resulting in fluid accumulation in the belly and poor growth. Also, the liver damage was too advanced for any corrective surgery. Hence, transplant was the only cure.
“The procedure of liver transplant is challenging in any child due to tiny blood vessels. Moreover, even smaller portion of the liver that the child’s mother donated was too big to fit inside the tiny abdomen cavity of the child”, he said.
“I feel extremely happy as he is completely cured now.
“He is able to eat and digest his food, which was hard for him earlier”, said Hasina Hamed Ali, mother of Amed.
In another case, Grace, a two-year-old girl from Seychelles, was diagnosed with a condition called biliary atresia, underwent corrective surgery within six weeks of birth in Sir Lanka, but the treatment did not yield results.
“Even though mother’s liver was a perfect fit, the surgery was specially challenging due to the dense and severe adhesion that developed after the previous surgery, which made removing the damaged liver and poorly developed blood vessels tedious. However, the surgery was successful and as it is a first liver transplant case from Seychelles, it is very motivating”, the doctor said.