Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad has successfully performed Liver Transplant on a four-month-old baby

The doctors at Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad have successfully performed Liver Transplant on a four-month-old baby. It was a challenging case for doctors to perform transplant surgery on such a small baby. There are only few hospitals worldwide, having the capability to perform liver transplants among children, weighing less than 5 kgs and below 6 months of age. At Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad, the Pediatric Liver Transplant team has tremendous experience and expertise along with the technology to perform critical and delicate liver transplant surgeries in infants, said Dr Manish C Varma, Head of the Liver Transplant Department at Apollo Hospitals, Jubilee Hills.

In Vizag, the treating doctors performed a Porto-enterostomy surgery on the baby, to treat pediatric liver disease, where the bile ducts are abnormally narrow, blocked, or absent. The baby was only 2.5 months old when he underwent this surgery. However, even after the surgery, there was no sign of jaundice subsiding and the condition was further deteriorating. The doctors at Vizag recommended liver transplant and the baby was brought to Apollo Hospitals, Jubilee Hills.

On March 14, Liver Transplant surgery was performed and Mrs. Sarojini, mother of the baby, was the donor. Post-operatively the baby recovered well and was discharged nine days after surgery on March 23. The donor was discharged on March 19.

“There is a need for spreading awareness that however small and underweight the baby is, it can be treated with a liver transplant if it is needed,” said Mr. Y Subramanyam, CEO Apollo Hospitals.

The complicated liver transplant was carried out by a multidisciplinary team consisting of Dr Ramesh Srinivasan, Pediatric Hepatologist, Dr L Sasidhar Reddy, Transplant Surgeon, Dr Manjunath and Dr Vijay, Anesthetists and Intensivists respectively and Dr Samiya Razvi, Pediatric Pulmonologist, at Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad.