Treats a 51-year-old patient from Bengaluru suffering from acute liver failure
BGS Global Hospital, a part of Parkway Pantai, successfully performed a liver transplant saving the life of a 51-year-old patient from Bengaluru suffering from acute liver failure caused by anti-tuberculosis medication.
Acute liver failure is loss of liver function that occurs rapidly — in days or weeks — in a person who has no pre-existing liver disease. It is much less common compared to other liver diseases requiring liver transplantation, such as decompensated cirrhosis of the liver, which develops more slowly. Acute liver failure causes serious complications, including excessive bleeding and increasing pressure on the brain. Other organs like the heart, lungs and kidneys may also require support in such patients. It is a medical emergency that requires intensive care, ideally in transplant centres. Depending on the cause, acute liver failure can sometimes be reversed with medical treatment. In many situations, though, a liver transplant may be the only cure.
A liver transplant was the only option for the patient. It took place in late October 2016, and lasted nearly 12 hours including the time to taken to harvest the organ from the donor.
A multi-disciplinary team including Dr Sanjay Govil, Consultant, HPB & Liver Transplant Surgery, Dr Suresh Raghavaiah, Consultant, HPB & Multi Organ Transplant Surgery, Dr Raghavendra CV (Transplant Surgery team), Dr Vinit Shah (Hepatologist), a team of intensivists and anaesthetists worked on this surgery.
Commenting on the case, Dr Govil said, “For patients with acute liver failure, time is of the essence. Transplantation must be performed within days of hospital admission and requires an experienced and dedicated team of doctors including intensivists, hepatologists, transplant surgeons and anaesthetists to maintain the patient while awaiting an organ for transplantation.”
Dr Raghavaiah added that liver support measures such as plasma exchange to purify blood and remove toxins are particularly useful and in specific instances might permit the liver to recover spontaneously without transplantation. An elective liver transplant patient usually requires about three weeks of hospitalisation and about three months of recovery outside of the hospital.
Commenting on the importance of raising awareness for organ donation, Dr Raghavaiah said, “The patient is alive today only because of the gift of life he received through the generosity of his organ donor. There are more than 400 patients waiting for an organ right now in Karnataka. We need more people to enlist to donate their organs after death to save more lives. Each donor can save up to eight lives through organ donation.”
“There are several factors that have led to the establishment of a robust liver transplant programme in BGS Global Hospital. The foremost was the formation of a team consisting of highly skilled liver transplant surgeons, hepatologists, specialised anesthetists and intensive care experts. Dedicated and specially trained nurses form an important part of the team. Equally important are the provision of the best medical equipment available to treat critically ill patients. Notably, BGS Global Hospital is the only hospital in Karnataka with a special dedicated liver ICU where all forms of advanced liver diseases can be managed in a state of the art manner,” said Thomas Mathew, COO, BGS Global Hospital Bangalore.
EH News Bureau