• Seriously sick Yasmin, one of three children in the world under 3 years of age to have undergone this innovative & complex surgery for acute liver failure
• She has now made a  remarkable recovery  and can now look forward to a normal life, without immunosuppressive medication

July 03, 2012, Chennai : Hepatitis A  attacked an unsuspecting 2 year old Yasmin from Oman who developed hepatic coma was being fast tracked by fate into a rapidly looming liver failure. The onset of this affliction, her condition deteriorated in the form of an increasing jaundice, coagulopathy, seizures, difficulty in ventilation, decreased urine output and coma. The doctors at Oman referred her to Dr Naresh Shanmugam, Child liver specialist at Global Health City, Chennai.

Baby Yasmin was airlifted from Oman. Yasmin was admitted at Global Health City in a very critical condition with brain swelling, blood coagulopathy, very high ammonia and jaundice, secondary to liver failure. Her condition was stabilized by paediatric intensive care team. After due consideration by the liver transplant team, the diagnosis indicated that auxiliary liver transplant will be the best option for cure.  The 10 hour complex surgery performed by Prof Mohamed Rela & team, where portion of Yasmin’s liver was removed and replaced with a small portion of her uncle’s liver. Post –operative course was stormy due to the toxins released from the remaining portion of yasmin’s liver which was effectively managed by expert paediatric liver intensive care team headed by Dr. Naresh Shanmugam. Within next four days her liver function reverted to normal. Two months after surgery, she is kept alive by the donor liver but her own liver has also started functioning and probably in next six months time when her own liver is fully functional all her medications will be stopped and she can lead a normal life like any other child.

The 10 hour surgery was performed on 21/4/2012 at Global Health City, Chennai by Prof. Mohamed Rela, Dr. Rajasekhar Perumalla, Dr. Venugopal, Dr. Gomathy Narasimhan, Dr. Vivekanandan, Dr. Srinivas Reddy along with other specialists.

Speaking on Auxiliary liver transplant Prof. Mohamed Rela, Head of the Department, HPB & Liver Transplantation, Global Health City said “Transplant program at Global Health City has evolved from a sustained commitment to world class surgical expertise. Auxiliary liver transplant embraces the latest and the best technologies available in the international healthcare market and gives children a second chance to live a normal life.”

Auxiliary liver transplantation is a very innovative and technically demanding surgical technique where only a portion of patient’s liver is removed and replaced with a portion of donor’s liver.  Prof Mohamed Rela, who pioneered this technique at Kings College Hospital, London,   has performed this for the first time on a child here in India.

Speaking on the modus operandi of the complex surgery Dr. Naresh P Shanmugam, Senior Consultant Pediatric Hepatologist & Gasteroenterologist, Global Health City, said, “There is a huge requirement for pediatric liver transplant in India because of the incidence of the disease in the children. This innovative technique of Auxiliary liver transplant gives a second chance to live a normal life when the child’s own liver regenerates and a life free of any medications and medical follow ups. “

Liver is an organ that can regenerate. In acute liver failure, if we could temporarily support the liver function until native liver regenerates, transplantation could be avoided. Unlike kidney dialysis machine there is no effective liver dialysis machine that could support during liver failure. Instead, a small portion of donor liver could be transplanted along side of native liver; this transplanted liver would work as a temporary dialysis machine.  When the native liver regenerated after few months time, immune suppression can be stopped and the transplanted liver atropies. The patient could live with their own liver in a healthy manner.

GLOBAL HEALTH CITY, Chennai

Global Health City is a 500 bedded super specialty tertiary care facility, with a capacity to expand to 1000 beds. It renders 360 degree advanced tertiary healthcare services with multi-super speciality and multi-organ transplant services. With the finest combination of expertise, experience, state-of-the art technology and well coordinated team work, every step is aimed at ensuring excellence in patient care. The Global Hospitals Group started with its first Hospital a decade ago in Hyderabad. Today, it has nine hospitals with over 2000 beds, strategically spread across the country with branches now in Bangalore and Chennai and many more in advanced stages of planning and implementation, one such being the Mumbai facility which is proposed to be operational by the end of the current financial year. Each unit is a world class tertiary care multi super specialty Hospital with facilities matching the best in the world and offering advanced patient care of international standards.