CHENNAI: Mohana Prasanna, a 20-year-old engineering student from Tiruvannamalai, was advised to undergo a transplant after he was diagnosed with liver cell failure at a private hospital in Vellore. Never had Mohana imagined that he would be able to recover without a complex transplant surgery. But thanks to the efforts of doctors at Government Stanley Medical College Hospital, it only took a 45-day blood component therapy for Mohana to recover.
Dr Sundaramurthy, professor of Medicine, and Dr Venkateswaran, HOD, Medical Gastroenterology, diagnosed that the student suffered from liver cell failure that manifested from failure of clotting. They were alarmed when they took a blood test called Prothrombin Time — a test to measure the time blood takes to clot. They found that it took about 114 seconds for his blood to clot while the normal time is 13 seconds.
“He was referred to us because he could not afford `50 lakh for the transplant surgery. Here, we decided that we could treat him without the surgery,” said Dr AL Meenakshi Sundaram, dean, Government Stanley Medical College and Hospital.
Mohana underwent the 45-day therapy where he was given blood components including fresh frozen plasma, albumin, which is the protein found in blood plasma, and cryoprecipitate, a blood component made from plasma.
Mohana’s liver function is now restored. He has been discharged and is now back to college.