The child weighing just 6 kgs suffering from rare genetic disorder ‘Alagille Syndrome’ was successfully operated
Sahyadri Super Speciality Hospital, Pune recently performed a successful living donor liver transplant in an eight-month-old child weighing just 6 kg. The child was suffering from a rare genetic disorder called ‘Alagille Syndrome’ which turned worse with time progressing to end-stage liver disease. Since the family comes from a humble background, the funds were raised by Sahyadri Hospitals through various NGOs to successfully perform this lifesaving surgery.
Tata Trust, Pravin Agarwal Foundation, Transplant Help Poor Foundation, Chief Minister Fund, Siddhi Vinayak Ganapati Mandir Trust, Mukul Madhav Foundation, Oswal Bandhu Samaj Trust along with a group of anonymous individual donors teamed up to raise funds for the surgery.
Explaining the case, Dr Bipin Vibhute, Director and Head of Organ Transplantation & Hepatobiliary Surgery, Sahyadri Hospitals said, “When his parents first brought him to the hospital a few months ago he had jaundice. Alagille Syndrome was confirmed based on the liver biopsy and genetic test reports. The child continued to deteriorate with progressively increasing jaundice and end-stage liver disease. With infection in his blood, the bilirubin had increased to 63mg/dl, he had started to lose weight and the situation was becoming complicated. We had to go in for an urgent transplant. Luckily his mother was identified as an ideal donor.”
Dr Snehavardhan Pandey, Paediatric Hepatologist Sahyadri Hospital said, “The transplant was very challenging as the child was very small and fragile. After a well-performed surgery by the surgeons that lasted for 10 hours, the child was off the mechanical ventilator after two to three hours then shifted to his isolation room. The child developed an infection in his blood followed by diarrhoea which complicated his course in the hospital. However, the child fought back bravely. Vital decisions were taken very timely and that was the turning point of this complicated case. His blood pressure improved, diarrhoea resolved and the child did well. It was a well-co-ordinated team effort. I especially thank the Paediatric Intensive Care Team and the staff nurses who took care of the child with all their love and dedication. We discharged the child after 20 days of surgery.”
He also thanked the referring paediatrician for optimising the child and timely referring the child for transplant.
The entire liver team at Sahyadri Hospitals worked together along with other departments in a well-coordinated effort. The transplant team consisted of Hepatobiliary and Liver Transplant Surgeons Dr Bipin Vibhute, Dr Dinesh Zirpe, Dr Aniruddha Bhosale, Dr Abhijeet Mane, Hepatologists, Dr Sheetal Mahajani, Paediatric Hepatologist, Dr Snehavardhan Pandey, Paediatric Intensivist, Dr Sagar Lad, Dr Pradeep Suryawanshi, Dr Ravindra Khetre, Dr Santosh Kait, Dr Jalil Mujawar, Transplant Anaesthetist, Dr Manish Phatak, Dr Manoj Raut, Infectious disease specialist, Dr Raman Gaikwad, Diagnostic & Intervention Radiologist, Dr Yogesh Lohar, Dr Kaurabhi Zade and Transfusion Medicine specialist and Dr Smita Joshi.
Dr Ketan Apte, Unit Head Sahyadri Hospitals said, “Congratulations to all the doctors and the administration team for working in a coordinated way especially at the peak of the pandemic and ensuring the child gets a new lease of life.”
