LIVER TRANSLANT ON 11TH MONTHS OLD CHILD

Doctors at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH), New Delhi have once again created history in the field of liver transplantation in India. After an 8-year-old child Arif Mischaal was saved by being airlifted and performing emergency liver transplantation a year back, another child, 11-month-old Siddharth became India's youngest liver transplant recipient. Siddharth's aunt Saroja has donated the left lateral part of her liver to Siddharth. The transplant was performed by a team of surgeons led by Head of Liver Transplant, Dr AS Soin on 15th February, this year.

Siddharth, a resident of Chennai, developed jaundice at two days of life. "However, it was only at the age of five months that he was diagnosed to have biliary atresia, a condition in which the bile ducts of the liver (responsible for draining the bile produced in the liver into the intestinal tract for digestion) are absent. The bile is trapped within the liver cells rapidly causing damage, scarring up and cirrhosis ultimately resulting in liver failure and death," informed Dr Soin.

He underwent an operation in Chennai at the age of five months attempting to correct it, but at the time of surgery his liver was already diagnosed to be cirrhotic. Doctors in Chennai informed them that the only chance for his survival was a liver transplant. Thus, the child landed at SGRH.

Dr Neelam Mohan, Consultant Paediatric Haepatologist and Physician Incharge Paediatric Liver Transplantation said that the child was in a very sick condition with severe infection. "We had to toil for a few weeks and high level of intensive medical and nutritional care was necessary to get him to shape for the surgeons to do the surgery. The child's liver's main blood supply was irreparably blocked due to the late stage of his disease. A graft was used between the donor's liver and the patient's portal vein," she added.

The post operative period was relatively smooth except a mild infection which would be well tackled, added Dr Mohan. Siddharth was discharged after three weeks.

Last year, the hospital claims to have performed over 90 liver transplants and have completed over 235 liver transplants with over 90 per cent success rate.