Deceased man’s liver saves two lives in Mumbai

Mumbai: A 38-year-old deceased Dombivli man's liver saved two lives in the city: one of a 44-year-old man and another of a three-year-old child. Both suffered from severe liver disease.The donation happened at Asian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS). Among other criteria that made the transplant to a child possible was that the donor was under the age of 45. Most donors are elderly, and their livers cannot be transplanted into paediatric patients.The procedure happened at Gleneagles Hospital in Parel and lasted for 17 hours.Dr Anurag Shrimal, liver transplant director at the hospital, said the liver was carefully divided into two segments: the right trisection (larger portion) for the adult recipient and the left lateral segment (smaller portion) for the paediatric recipient.Nerul resident Master Charvik Ingle suffered from cryptogenic cirrhosis, which is a childhood liver disease with no known cause. The diagnosis was confirmed through a CT scan. Moreover, his height and weight were like that of a 1 to 2-year-old child, and he also had abdominal swelling caused by fluid accumulation.Charvik was listed on the deceased donor liver transplant waitlist in Dec. His father said that when doctors explained that a transplant was the only solution, it was a wait-and-watch situation for the family.Netaji Chavan (44) was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in 2021. It came with ascites, jaundice, and severe muscle loss. Since then, he was on the brain-dead donor waitlist, with days when he could barely get out of bed, eat, or walk without feeling tired."I almost lost hope after waiting for years. Living with liver disease was not just physically exhausting; it was also mentally draining. My body grew weaker while waiting for a transplant. It was frightening," said Chavan.