Conduct auto-transplantation of liver successfully to save life of a 24-year-old security guard

It was a desperate last ditch attempt by surgeons of State-run Osmania General Hosptial (OGH) here in Hyderabad that saved the life of a 24-year-old security guard, Naga Raju from Khammam. The surgeons extracted his liver, preserved it for hours, removed his blocked and underdeveloped hepatic blood vessels and then reconstructed them with artificial grafts and transplanted the same liver back into his body.

Post surgery, the doctors and parents of Naga Raju kept fingers crossed! As fate would have it, after a fortnight, Naga Raju made a near perfect recovery.

“We lost all hope because private hospitals here had given up on my son. In fact, the doctors at OGH also made it clear that the surgery was risky because such a procedure was unheard of and never attempted before,” recalls Alivellu, the mother of Naga Raju.

On their part, the Government doctors at OGH have maintained that other than one instance in Canada, they have not come across many instances of this procedure, which is technically known as Auto-Transplantation of Liver.

“The youngster had Budd-Chiari Syndrome (BCS), which is blockage of veins that carry blood from the liver. He had to undergo liver transplantation and was in the waiting list. But it was taking time to get a donor liver and his condition was worsening by the day. Removing his liver, reconstructing the blood vessels was the last option,” says Head, Surgical Gastroenterology, Dr. Ch. Madhusudhan.

According to doctors, the prevalence of BCS is one among one million individuals. In addition to blocked blood vessels of the liver, the Inferior Vena Cava (IVC), the large vein that carries blood from lower part of the body to the heart, was also blocked. This caused complete occlusion of hepatic veins that drain the liver.

“The very fact that he has survived for 23 years itself is a miracle. His body had adjusted and over a period of time,” says Superintendent, OGH, Dr. C. G. Rahuram.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> National> Andhra Pradesh / by M. Sai Gopal / Hyderabad – October 30th, 2015