3 Sep :Army has successfully accomplished in situ liver transplantation. On 27 Aug 2008, 30 year old wife of a serving Major of the Indian Army was battling for her life in the ICU of Army Hospital R & R, New Delhi. Despite all possible medical efforts, she was declared brain dead and her husband desired her wish of organ donation to be fulfilled.
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 novel technique of “in situ” splitting of the liver involves dividing the donor liver during retrieval into two parts, so that two patients can be benefited from one donor organ.
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.
This 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 aned is amongst the youngest liyer 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 seventeen liver transplants since the Inception of the programme in Mar 2007.