Timely surgical intervention and liver donation by father to a little daughter, in times of COVID-19, saved the life a 5-years old Pune girl who was suffering from life-threatening liver disease. Ten-hours long liver transplant surgery by an experienced team of surgeons at Jupiter Hospital saved the life of Shubhra who received a liver from her father
Shubra was suffering from biliary atresia, a condition in which there is the failure of development of bile ducts in the liver at birth. Children suffering from this condition develop jaundice. She underwent a corrective procedure at birth known as Kasai’s procedure, said Dr Kalpesh Patil, the Paediatric surgeon. However, when she became 4 years old, she developed jaundice, accumulation of fluid in her abdomen and multiple bouts of vomiting containing blood and would require life-saving liver transplantation, said Dr Vishnu Biradar, the Paediatric gastroenterologist
The complex surgery which took place over ten hours at Jupiter hospital in Baner, Pune was performed by a team of transplant surgeons headed by Dr Gaurav Chaubal.
“Liver transplantation in children is often very challenging as they have very small blood vessels which need to be connected to the new liver and the operation is technically challenging. There is no room for error,” said Dr Chaubal.
Shubra’s father donated a part of his liver to his child. All necessary testing and diagnostic procedures were carried out and the transplant was performed on 4th July 2020
Shubra and her father underwent a full and extensive transplant assessment. The old liver from the child was removed surgically and the donor’s liver was connected. The transplanted liver began working straight away. At the end of the surgery, the recipient was stable and shifted out to the intensive care unit for further care. All the protocols related to the prevention of the spread of the COVID was followed during the conduct of this surgery and in the Transplant ICU said Dr Srinivas Tambe, Paediatric intensivist. She spent 14 days in the hospital and was discharged. Both father and child have recovered completely. This successful transplant has led to a very high possibility of a complete cure from the liver cirrhosis in a new lease of life to the child”
Shubhra’s case clearly points out that people should not be scared of COVID-19 and should not delay life-saving surgeries. Jupiter Hospital has been taking full care of non-COVID-19 critical cases and performs advanced surgeries taking all precautions for patient safety and care.
