CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE

TRANSPLANTS
Liver Transplant

Liver transplantation is the last resort for a variety of diseases that cause progressive liver failure, when all other treatment options are no longer effective. The commonest cause for progressive liver failure is cirrhosis most often due to chronic infections with Hepatitis B or C virus, or due to alcohol abuse. Other diseases that may need this treatment are Fulminant Hepatitis, certain liver cancers and a variety of metabolic diseases in children. World over the survival figures after liver transplantation are 90% at 1 year and 70% at 5 years for patients who would not survive more than a year without transplantation.

In this operation the patient's diseased liver is removed and replaced with healthy liver from a donor. Traditionally the liver is taken from a 'brain dead' cadaveric donor, although now, with operations on the liver becoming increasingly safe in expert hands, a living donor may donate part of their liver to the patient. Although cadaveric liver transplantation is the safest form of transplantation because it does not put a donor at risk, living donor transplantation is being increasingly performed for children who need a small portion of the donor liver, in societies where cadaveric donation is not possible either for religious or social reasons, and when urgent transplants are necessary for Fulminant hepatitis or cancers.

At Narayana Hrudayalaya we offer living donor liver transplantation from related donors for both children and adults. Each patient and donor is cleared by the hospital Ethics Committee. A stringent set of tests is necessary to determine whether the donor will be able to tolerate removal of part of their liver, so as to minimize the risk of operation. We are in the process of collaborating with a variety of organizations and hospitals to procure organs from cadaveric donors so as to make the process of liver transplantation safer and more widely available.