Bengaluru patient undergoes living donor liver transplantation at BGS Gleneagles Global Hospital

The patient was diagnosed with chronic liver disease including fatty liver disease and diabetes

Victor, a 59-year-old man from Bengaluru recently underwent living donor liver transplantation at BGS Gleneagles Global Hospital, Bengaluru to treat liver cancer. The patient was diagnosed with chronic liver disease including fatty liver disease and diabetes.

Doctors chose to first control the liver cancer by TACE, an image-guided, non-surgical procedure that is used to treat malignant lesions in the liver. Once he responded favourably, he was recommended a liver transplant as a definitive cure for his condition. The patient’s son was determined as a suitable donor. The operation that took place in August 2019 which lasted over 10 hours.

Dr Venugopal Bhaskar Pillai, Head of the department, HPB and Multi-organ transplant surgeon, BGS Gleneagles Global Hospital said, “Due to the long-standing diabetes, the patient also had signs of heart disease. This had to be tackled well before the patient could be taken for transplant. The cardiac team first executed Percutaneous Transluminal Angiography or PTA to clear the blocked blood vessels.”

The PTA procedure ensured that the patient was fit to undergo the liver transplantation. The surgery was carried out successfully and went on as planned. He was provided with multi-disciplinary care in the immediate post-transplant period considering his underlying heart problem and diabetes.

His son was discharged in five days while Victor was kept in the hospital for 13 days for observation and post-operative care.

Dr Sunil Shenvi, Consultant HPB and Multi – Organ Transplant Surgeon, BGS Gleneagles Global Hospital said, “Living donor liver transplants are complex surgeries which take place in three parts. Firstly, we have to remove half of the liver from the living donor. Simultaneously, we remove the damaged liver of the patient. Finally, we implant the new liver into the patient’s body. There is no room for error in this kind of surgery. In this patient, the presence of liver cancer made it challenging.”

A team of doctors across specialties including Dr Venugopal Bhaskar Pillai, Dr Sunil Shenvi, Dr Kuttappa, Dr Arun, Dr Sangeetha, Dr Vijay, Dr Mahesh from the liver transplant and intensive care team, Dr Guruprasad from the cardiology team, Dr Srinath from the endocrinology team and Dr Ravindra, Dr Adarsh and Dr Bhuvan from the gastroenterology and hepatology team, all played a critical role in this surgery.

Shailaja Suresh, CEO, BGS Gleneagles Global Hospital, Bengaluru noted, “We urge more individuals to sign up for organ donation and volunteer as a living organ donor, if any of the family members is in need.”