Innovative Liver transplant

In spite of an unusual liver anatomy of the donor, who is the mother of the ten-year old, an innovative procedure by liver transplant surgeons helps save a life

Siva Sai, all of 10 years is beaming with confidence and has a spring in his feet, but just a month ago, the child was barely able to move in bed. In what can be termed as an innovative and a unique liver transplant, the liver transplant surgeons at Global Hospitals, Lakdi-Ka-Pul performed the surgery on October 1, 2013.

Success against all odds

The doctors had just 48 hours to perform the surgery as the health of the child was deteriorating. If time was a factor, the unusual anatomy of the donor, Lavanya, the mother of the ten-year-old proved to be a major problem. The normal right hepatic vein was absent. Dr Tom Cherian, senior consultant who led the liver transplantation team said, “We came up with an innovative means of extracting the liver from the donor and also implanting into the recipient with minimum risk.” He added, “Unlike a standard transplant, the right side liver vein in the boy was used to reconstruct the lower portion of the middle liver vein in the mother’s liver graft.”

The use of the right side liver vein has never been attempted before. The surgery was performed by retrieving the liver graft weighing 288 gms from the mother.

Dr K Ravindranath, CMD, Global Hospitals Group said, “On an average 40 per cent of the donors are not suitable. Innovations like these help increase the pool of donors.”

In the meanwhile Siva Sai is ready to get back to school in January and also get back to playing his favourite sport cricket. Dr Tom said that regeneration of the liver would take place in a matter of weeks. The surgery cost Rs 25 lakh. “We are grateful to the donations and the hospital staff. 90 per cent of the money came in the form of donations,” said Raju, the father of Siva Sai.