Doctors transplant Vizag woman’s liver in Hyd patient

The liver was donated by a 51-year old woman from Visakhapatnam, who was declared brain-dead after an accident. Her family donated the organ under the Government run Jeevandan Scheme.

The patient was suffering from an end stage liver disease.

“We started the surgery even before we received the liver from the donor. We faced little complications at the airport to transport the liver from Visakhapatnam. The operation started around 5am,” informed Dr Sachin Daga, liver transplant surgeon, KIMS.

“Once a liver is removed from a person, the transplantation should take place within the next 8-10 hours. Preserving the liver after this period would be of no use,” explained Dr Srinivas Prabhu Chava, liver transplant surgeon, KIMS. “We managed to complete the surgery within this time and the patient is under observation in the ICU,” he added. An ‘Immediate’ stage of a liver disease can usually be treated completely. Whereas the other two stages- observed as ‘Early’ and ‘Late’- have lower chances for a patient’s survival. 80 per cent of patients will not make it.

Many patients’ surgery is delayed because organ donors for liver are low compared to kidneys and heart donors.

“We also check if the donated liver is healthy for transplantation. This is to ensure that there is no infection from the donor that will pass to the patient after the surgery,” mentioned Dr Srinivas.

“The patient will be discharge after a month. He needs to take medication for life along with regular consultation and if everything goes well the patient can lead a normal life,” concluded Dr MBV Prasad, Surgical Gastroenterologist, KIMS.