Rare liver transplant saves 6-month-old

In a rare surgery, doctors at the Apollo Hospital here have successfully carried out a transplant on an underweight infant.

Master Nitesh was three or four months when he was diagnosed with a congenital liver condition called biliary atresia.

He had developed jaundice a few weeks after his birth. His father, a daily wage labourer, consulted local doctors in Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh from where the family hails.

When prolonged treatment did not control jaundice, they turned to Apollo Hospitals.

On a thorough evaluation, it was found Nitesh had already developed liver cirrhosis and was weighing just about 5.5 kg.

On October 13, the Liver Transplant team led by Manish C Varma, performed a critical liver transplant surgery by taking a slice of the father’s liver. The infant has since been discharged, the team told newspersons on Friday.

Biliary atresia is a congenital liver condition where the bile cannot drain from the liver through the bile ducts to the intestines. It afflicts one in 10,000-15,000 children.

This impairment of the bile flow usually happens due to the absence, block or abnormally narrow bile ducts in the liver. It can lead to liver failure and most affected don’t survive beyond two years, they explained.

“Ideally, biliary atresia kids should undergo Porto-enterostomy or Kasai’s Procedure within 3-4 months of their birth. This procedure enables bypassing the blocked ducts to drain the bile from liver.”

In Nitesh’s case, “we missed the opportunity for a Kasai’s Procedure and were left with no option but to transplant his liver.

These are the patients who pose the biggest challenge and not many centres in our country are equipped to carry out liver transplant on children less than 10 kg,” the doctor pointed out.

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