Mr R. M., a 53 year old gentleman, had been suffering from cirrhosis of the liver for some time and had been under treatment from various doctors within the city. The cause of the cirrhosis was not known. Mr M was a teetotaller and was surprised to hear that he was suffering from this condition. When his abdomen started filling up with fluid, it was evident that his liver was unlikely to recover.Moreover, a scan suggested that there were some possible areas of tumour developing within his cirrhotic liver. This is when his doctors advised him to undergo a liver transplant operation as soon as possible.
Mr M successfully underwent a Living Donor Liver Transplant operation at Kokilaben Ambani hospital on 1st March 2011. His 22 year old daughter bravely stepped forward and offered to donate a part of her liver. Living Donor Liver Transplantation is possible because although every one of us has only one liver, it is the only organ in the body which has the ability to regenerate.As a result, the half liver that has been transplanted and the half left behind in the donor will both grow to their original size within a few months.
Doctors at the Kokilaben Hospital then evaluated and prepared the father and the daughter for the operation. In an operation lasting nearly 24 hours, a team of doctors first removed the right half of the donor's liver as well as the recepient's diseased liver. The donor liver was then transplanted in place of Mr M's cirrhotic liver.The doctors joined the blood vessels and the bile duct of the donor and the recipient liver and were happy to see the new liver beginning to function in its new home and produce bile before the end of the operation. The operation finished in the morning on the 2nd March 2011, when both the donor and recipient were shifted to the Multiorgan Transplant Intensive Care Unit, a specially designed area dedicated for patients with organ and bone marrow transplants with carefully controlled airflow and other strict aseptic measures to minimize the risk of infection.
Liver Transplantation is one of the most complex surgical procedures in the body and requires a great deal of expertise, commitment and dedication from a large team of doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff all of whom are specially trained for this procedure.There is also a great deal of support that is provided by the hematology, biochemistry, microbiology and pathology departments as well as the blood bank.
Kokilaben Hospital, with its vision of becoming a premier centre for Liver Transplantation, has set up a Liver Unit at the hospital. This is the first Liver Unit of its kind in the city of Mumbai. The Unit consists of expert liver transplant surgeons, physicians (hepatologist), anaesthetists, radiologists and intensivists, all of whom are specially trained and are able to provide comprehensive care to all patients across the entire spectrum of liver disorders. The hospital is also equipped with latest state of the art infrastructure and equipments necessary to undertake this complex procedure.
Kokilaben Hospital Liver Unit is able to provide care for all patients with Acute and Chronic Liver Failure, due to any underlying cause. Care is tailored to the patient's individual condition and the clinical situation at the time. The clinical condition of the patient is discussed by all the team members of the Liver Unit and a management plan is made based on this multidisciplinary input. Most patients will be managed by medications and / or endoscopy by our expert hepatologist and intensivists, and a small proportion of patients who do not respond to this line of treatment, may be advised a Liver Transplant operation.
Kokilaben Hospital is able to offer both Living Donor and Deceased (Cadaver) Donor Liver Transplants for adults as well as for children with end stage liver disease. We are also able to offer Emergency Liver Transplants for patients who present with Acute Fulminant Liver Failure and in whom it is determined that the Liver has undergone irreversible damage and is therefore unlikely to recover without a Liver Transplant. Kokilaben Hospital has set up a dedicated Liver Transplant Assessment Clinic at the Hospital every Thursday afternoon, where all patients who need a liver transplant can be jointly assessed by our team of doctors.
After the operation, both Mr M and his daughter recovered well. The donor was discharged from the hospital 8 days after the operation and the recipient was discharged after 25 days. They are now recovering at home and are under followup of the Liver Team at the Kokilaben Hospital.
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