Liver transplantation was performed on a 19-year-old girl from Warangal, by taking a slice of liver from a donor whose blood group did not match with that of the recipient. The transplantation was performed on August 11 and the patient has since recovered fully.
When the girl was brought to the Apollo Hospitals here, she was found to be suffering from severe symptomatic hepatic hydrothorax, a condition, which led to excessive accumulation of fluid in the lungs and abdomen and swelling in the body resulting in breathing difficulty.
On investigation, it was found that she had liver cirrhosis due to Budd-Chiari Syndrome. She needed repeated withdrawal of fluid from the lungs by needle puncture, once in 10 days. The hospital suggested liver transplantation.
New transplant method
As none of her family members had a matching blood group to donate a slice of their liver, three months passed by in waiting for a cadaveric organ for the transplant. As her condition was deteriorating rapidly, she was advised by the liver transplant team at Apollo Hospitals to undergo an ABO Incompatible Living Donor Liver Transplantation.
“Body’s immune system is averse to accepting organ of a different blood group and rejects such alien tissue. Therefore, same blood group donors are preferred for organ transplantation. However, ABOi Living Donor Liver Transplantation procedure enables to seek a piece of liver from the available donor irrespective of the blood group,” stated a press release. Around 60% of liver was taken from the patient’s mother.
The liver transplant team led by Manish Varma, head of Liver Transplant and HPB surgery, supported by Naveen Polavarapu, consultant, Gastroenterologist and Transplant Hepatologist, performed the transplantation.