Bengaluru: Bangla kid with rare liver condition successfully undergoes liver transplant

Bengaluru: A 10-year Bangladeshi boy got a new lease of life by undergoing successful liver transplant at Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta Road. The boy was diagnosed with hepato-pulmonary syndrome, a rare condition that affects the lungs of people with advanced liver disease.

The multidisciplinary team of doctors was led by Dr Mahesh Gopasetty, Senior Consultant, HPB and Transplant Surgery, Dr Ravindra Nidoni, Consultant, Liver Transplant Surgeon, Dr Prasanna K S, Consultant, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Dr Yogesh Gupta, Head of PICU, Dr Murali Chakravarthy, Director, Anesthesiology.

After he was diagnosed with difficulty in breathing and was advised to undergo Pulmonary Arteriovenous Malformation (PAVM) correction (a condition that affects blood flow between the heart and the lungs), the boy's family decided to visit Bangalore.

As the patient had persistent low oxygen saturation, he was put on oxygen support for the past 16 months. In Bangalore, the family visited several hospitals, before coming to Fortis Hospital.

Congenital intrahepatic portosystemic shunts (IPSS) are abnormal vascular communications within the liver between branches of the portal vein and the hepatic veins.

Considering the deteriorating condition of the boy, an urgent transplant was needed.

However, being a diabetic patient, the boy's father was unfit for the donation and the mother was pregnant. In that scenario, in order to save the life of the boy, his aunt came forward to donate part of her liver.

Dr Mahesh Gopasetty said, "The challenges which we anticipated were only oxygen support, however anaesthetists were very well prepared and were kept on standby.

With the help of our hepato biliary and paediatric critical team, we were able to extubate him from the ventilator after 3 days post the transplant.

The paediatric critical care team led by Dr. Yogesh Gupta played a crucial role in managing the oxygen level of the boy for continuous 3 months.