Hyderabad: Rare liver transplant performed at Apollo Hospitals

Hyderabad: An ABO incompatible living donor liver transplant (ABOi LDLT) was conducted successfully on 19-year-old female patient, Soumya suffering from Budd-Chiari syndrome.

The patient was suffering from severe symptomatic hepatic hydrothorax, a condition which led to excessive accumulation of fluid in the lungs and abdomen and swelling in the body resulting in breathing difficulty. On investigation she was found to have liver cirrhosis due to Budd-Chiari Syndrome, a rare condition caused by blood clots that completely or partially block blood flow from the liver.

She needed repeated withdrawal of fluid from the lungs by needle puncture, once in every ten days. Such patients have a high risk of catching lung infections and it persists till the patient undergoes a transplant. As none of her family members had a matching blood group to donate a slice of their liver, she was waiting for a cadaveric organ for liver transplant for the three months prior to surgery.

As her condition was deteriorating rapidly with no hope of a dead donor organ coming her way, she was advised by the Liver Transplant Team at Apollo Hospitals, an ABOi Living Donor Liver Transplantation.

Body's immune system is averse to accepting organ of a different Blood group and rejects such alien tissue. Therefore, same blood group donors are preferred for organ transplantation. However, ABOi Living Donor Liver Transplantation procedure enables to seek a piece of liver from the available donor irrespective of the blood group they belong to.

Also known as mismatched blood group liver transplantation, is a very rarely performed procedure and only very few centres across the world have the expertise in performing this surgery.

The Liver Transplant team led by Dr Manish Varma, Sr Consultant & HoD, Liver Transplant and HPB surgery and supported by Dr Naveen Polavarapu, Consultant, Gastroenterologist and Transplant Hepatologist, Apollo Hospitals.