A successful lever transplant was performed at Medanta Medcity Hospital in Gurgaon, New Delhi. Apart from the success of the surgery what was more surprising was the patient who was none other than a two months old baby and according to the doctors was the lightest baby to undergo the transplant. The little one was only 2.1kilos.
Little David was brought to Medanta by his parents all the way from Nigeria as such complex treatment was difficult to be found in their own country. According to the director of children's liver diseases and transplant, Dr. Neelam Mohan, the child was in a very bad shape and was barely alive. He was suffering from severe liver and bone marrow failure for which a lever transplant was inevitable.
"Liver transplant was the only way he could be saved, but it wasn't easy given the complexities involved. First, the child's father was the only suitable donor, but he was about 43 times heavier. There were no previous reports of a successful transplant with donors heavier than 25 times the recipient's size," said Dr AS Soin, chairman of Medanta Liver Institute to one of India's leading newspapers, The Times of India.
The preparation of the surgery included a 3D model of the donor liver on CT scan. Finally, with the help of high magnification microscopic surgery, a small piece of the donor's lever was transplanted into David. According to Dr. Vijay Vohra, the head of liver anaesthesia at the hospital, the baby had to be put under anaesthesia for nine hours. It was a complicated and critical surgery because of the fragility of the delicate veins and windpipe of the infant patient. Medicines had to be given in small doses and it required a lot of precision for the management of fluid and blood that was required in accurate millimetres.
According to the doctors, David had undergone the transplant on August 2 but it took him almost two months to be completely fit again. Because of his weakness and malnourished condition, he couldn't even breathe properly for the first 45 days. But, the surgery was successful and now, after two months, David is a healthy, smiling child again. "David, now nearly three months, weighs 3.8kg, is playful, and growing well with normal liver and bone marrow function," Dr Mohan said.
Source: The Times of India
Know more: Liver Transplant in India