Bloodless liver transplantgives man new lease of life

Lucknow: A 56-year-old man from Mainpuri, suffering from liver failure, was given a new lease of life in a rare bloodless liver transplant procedure undertaken at city based Apollomedics Super Speciality Hospital. His 45-year-old wife donated a portion of her liver for the surgerySharing details, senior director and head of liver transplant, Dr Abhishek Yadav said: “Not a single unit of blood was transfused to this patient. This is significant considering that liver transplants typically involve significant blood loss – about 2-3 litres at times. As a result, patient is transfused blood. However, adequate blood donors were not available in this case, so we adopted a meticulous surgical strategy to minimise blood loss.”Dr Utkarsh Srivastava, who performed the surgery with Dr Yadav, said that advanced surgical techniques and careful intra-operative management enabled the team to complete the complex surgery without transfusion, which remains extremely rare in liver transplant procedures.Doctors said the patient recovered well after the procedure and was discharged on the eighth day, much earlier than the usual 20 to 25 days generally required after such surgeries.MD and CEO Dr Mayank Somani said the procedure reflected the expertise and advanced infrastructure available at the hospital. He also said that the hospital’s liver transplant team has successfully conducted 20 liver transplants over the past seven months, including several complex cases.