Hyderabad: The patient’s family saved his life by donating his organs. Ramesh (name changed), a 54-year-old businessman from Ongole, was suffering from liver and kidney failure for the past eight years, as well as various ailments including high blood pressure, diabetes and hepatitis B infection. He was admitted to the Department of Hepatology and Liver Transplantation at Star Hospital, Hyderabad due to severe infection, hypotension, hepatic coma and combined liver and kidney failure due to accumulation of toxins in the blood.
To save his life, doctors transplanted a liver and a kidney at the same time. Ramesh’s wife donated a kidney and his son donated a part of his liver. In such cases, unless the patient is carefully stabilized in the ICU and an immediate liver and kidney transplant is not performed, the chance of survival is less than 10 percent. Finding suitable donor organs in such urgent situations is extremely difficult in India where cadaver donation is still uncommon.
The complex surgery lasted for 12 hours in which the liver and kidney were operated simultaneously on the donor and the patient in a nearby operation theatre. Dr Golmari Srinivasa Reddy, Clinical Chief Consultant, Hepatology and Transplant Hepatology, said, “Severe liver cirrhosis and kidney failure due to infection can be a fatal combination if not treated promptly. Such patients require careful management in a specialized liver intensive care unit. Supporting organ function, infection And this case of treating stability also highlights the importance of screening and vaccination against hepatitis B infection, which initiated the entire disease process in this patient.”
“The complex surgery involved an interdisciplinary team of more than 50 members working seamlessly for patients in hepatology, liver transplant, nephrology, kidney transplant, anaesthesia, critical care, pulmonology and operating theater and the nursing staff in intensive care,” said Dr Mettu Srinivas. Reddy, director of the Star Liver Institute.