In situ liver transplant surgery performed at Army Hospital

New Delhi, Sep 3 (UNI) The Army has successfully accomplished an in situ liver transplantation, which means splitting and dividing the donor liver during retrieval into two parts, so that two patients can be benefitted from one donor organ.

On August 27, the 30-year-old wife of a serving Major of the Army was battling for her life in the ICU of Army Hospital R&R here.

Despite all possible medical efforts, she was declared brain dead and her husband wanted to fulfill her wish of organ donation.

Surgeons at Army Hospital (R&R) honoured this noble gesture by embarking on an in situ split liver transplant surgery, the first ever in India, thus giving a new lease of life to two patients suffering from end stage liver disease.

The surgery resulted in two liver grafts. The smaller graft was transplanted into a 14-month-old baby suffering from Biliary Atresia and the larger right part was transplanted into a 26-year-old soldier with cryptogenic cirrhosis.

Both patients are doing well postoperatively.

The unique surgical feat was undertaken by a team of 20 doctors and paramedical staff and took 18 hours to complete.

Incidentally, the 14-month-old boy was conceived by in vitro-fertilisation technique and is amongst the youngest liver transplant recipients in the country.

As his parents were unsuitable as living donors, an in situ liver split from a compatible brain dead donor offered the only chance for his survival as he was born with congenital absence of bile duets causing deepening jaundice since birth.

The kidneys and coronus from the donor were also harvested and transplanted, one kidney being flown to Command Hospital, Lucknow.

The liver transplant team at Army Hospital (R&R) is trained in adult as well as Paediatric Liver Transplantation and has performed 17 liver transplants since the inception of the programme in March last year.

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