Gurgaon: Rare liver transplant saves five-year-old at Medanta Medicity Hospital

Gurgaon: Doctors at Gurgaon's Medanta Medicity Hospital successfully conducted a rare liver transplant on a five-year-old girl to cure her of both the liver and lung failure.

Paridhi was diagnosed with very severe hepatopulmonary syndrome or HPS when liver failure affects the lung circulation and in extreme cases, results in respiratory or lung failure.

"We have a long experience of operating milder cases of hepatopulmonary syndrome, but had never taken on a such an advanced case with nearly 50 percent shunt fraction before," said A.S. Soin, Medanta Medicity's chief liver transplant surgeon who led the team, in a statement.

Explaining the patient's state prior to transplant, Neelam Mohan, director of children's liver diseases and transplantation, said that the patient, five-year-old Paridhi, had been suffering since birth from biliary atresia. Surgery for this at an age of two and a half months was conducted but did not prove successful.

People with biliary atresia -- a condition where the bile duct that connects the liver to intestine is not formed by birth -- gradually become cirrhotic and go on to have liver failure.

Paridhi then deteriorated, had life threatening liver infections with eight prolonged admissions in hospitals and when she came to us, she was deeply jaundiced, had marked growth failure, had severe HPS with oxygen saturation less than 70 percent, causing breathlessness, necessitating continuous oxygen.

"We took her up as one of the most challenging cases, and carried out an intensive nutritional and medical preparation to take her through the transplant successfully," Mohan remarked.

"My husband, Nitin, and I had nearly given up all hope of getting Paridhi well as doctors in Mumbai had said that her case was far too advanced for a liver transplant," Mamta, who donated 20 percent of her liver to save her daughter, said.

"Then about three months ago, we met the Medanta liver team who offered to try and save our child provided we understood that the transplant would be very high risk due to her low oxygen state," she said.

Paridhi's post-operative treatment was also a challenge as the low oxygen state takes several weeks to correct, Neelam Mohan said.

"In fact, she was on ventilator support for four weeks post operatively followed by oxygen support. Eventually, we discharged Paridhi home after 33 days of surgery. She now breathes normally without extra oxygen, and will grow like a normal child and live a healthy life," the statement noted.