UP: First liver transplant patient at KGMU's 100-year-old history, discharged

LUCKNOW: The first patient to have undergone a liver transplant in the over 100-year-old history of King George's Medical University (KGMU) and his organ donor wife were both discharged from the medical university on Monday, after a successful completion of the transplantation process.
The transplant had taken place in the university on March 14 with an over 50-member expert team from both KGMU and Max hospital Saket, New Delhi.

The surgical gastroenterology department of the university, which undertook the transplant, is now in preparation for a possible second liver transplant by the end of April. This will set the ball rolling for liver transplants to be actively done at the university which would benefit several patients.




The patient, a 50-year-old man from Rae Bareli, who was suffering from chronic liver disease, was donated the organ by his 48-year-old wife.

Speaking to reporters on the day of discharge, the couple termed the liver transplant as a second chance for them to life.

It was earlier in February that the patient had visited the out-patient-department (OPD) of KGMU's surgical gastroenterology department and was advised to get a liver transplant done.

Clinical pathological tests were conducted on the patient, and once his wife agreed to being the donor, the transplant was planned.



"The patient was admitted for 10 days in the ward, before the surgery and five days prior to the procedure, a special protocol was followed for him, where every minute of the patient was recorded as case history," said head of the gastroenterology department Prof Abhijit Chandra.

He also claimed that while such a transplant would have cost the patient around Rs 40 lakh to Rs 50 lakh, at KGMU it was done in around Rs 7 lakh to Rs 8 lakh.

The team of experts from Max hospital Saket, New Delhi, were led by Dr Subhash Gupta and including Dr Shaleen Agarwal, Dr Shweta Singh and Dr Rajesh Dey.

KGMU team headed by Prof Chandra included included Dr Vivek Gupta, Dr Pradeep Joshi.

Anesthesia team included Dr Mohd Parvej, Dr Anita Malik, Dr Tanmay Tiwari and Dr Ehsan. Dr Anit Parihar, Dr Rohit and Dr Neera Kohli were part of the radiology team along with Dr Tulika Chandra from the blood bank supporting the achievement.