GUWAHATI, Dec 10 - City-based Down Town Hospital said has that the second successful liver transplantation in the entire North East was carried out at the hospital recently.
A statement issued by the hospital said that a young engineering student from Charaideo district was diagnosed with a rare liver disease called �Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis� in 2017.
�It is a chronic or long-term disease that slowly damages the bile ducts. Gradually, over the next few years, he made multiple visits to different hospitals in Guwahati, Chennai and Hyderabad. However, his disease remained progressive and gradually his jaundice worsened and he was recommended for a liver transplantation at the earliest. As he had already spent a huge amount of money on treatment and logistics, liver transplant for him was an unaffordable proposition. Not one to lose hope, he and his family embarked on a fund collection drive and also pooled in all their resources. A successful crowd funding campaign gave them a glimmer of hope,� it stated.
Liver transplant is done only in a few selected hospitals in the country.
�While Hyderabad or Chennai was an option, the added cost of travel, prolonged preoperative and post-operative stay along with family in a far-off place and the general inconvenience of arranging blood products and other logistics away from their native place was an issue which played on their minds. A long-drawn analysis led them to choose Down Town Hospital. After an initial consultation with the liver transplant surgeon at the hospital, the process was initiated. The patient underwent many tests to assess his fitness for the surgery and to uncover any associated problems which could affect the surgery or the post-operative recovery. A few issues did crop up, but being a multispecialty hospital, doctors from other specialties pooled in their expertise to ensure that the patient is in an optimal condition to undergo the transplant,� said the statement.
In the meantime, prospective donors were evaluated and the patient�s 19-year-old younger brother expressed willingness to be the donor.
�The donor underwent a few tests to rule out any underlying problem and also to quantify the quantity and anatomy of the liver tissue. The liver is the only organ in our body which is capable of growing back to its normal size after a part of it is removed, provided the surgery is carried out within certain parameters. Once it was decided that both the patient and his brother were medically fit to undergo the operation and the formal permission was obtained, both donor and recipient were admitted and prepared for the surgery. Both recipient and donor got ready for the marathon surgery with a team of 15 doctors and more than 40 nursing and paramedical staff to coordinate in a way to ensure that the patient�s liver starts functioning normally again and at the same time ensuring that the donor gets back to a healthy life at the earliest,� the statement said.
It added, �After a gruelling 10-hour surgery, both donor and recipient spent the next couple of days in the Liver Transplantation ICU and gradually things started getting normal for both the donor and the recipient. The donor was discharged from the hospital in seven days and the recipient soon after.�
It is noteworthy that earlier the first such successful liver transplantation in this region had been carried out at the Down Town Hospital in September 2019.
