Chitika

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

8 Month Old Girl Became First Liver Transplant

Eight-month-old Akshu became one of the youngest recipients of a liver transplant in the country after doctors conducted a nine-hour surgery to save her life.


The daughter of Rifleman Anil Kumar, Akshu suffered from a liver failure and her parents had given up hope of her surviving the illness. However doctors at the army’s R.R. Hospital in Delhi Cantt performed a marathon nine-hour surgery with a piece of her father’s liver before confirming that the baby was recuperating well.


Akshu had been born with a biliary atresia, a condition in which a duct linking the liver to the small intestine is missing.It affects about one in 12,000 babies across the world.The little girl was grossly undernourished and weighed only 5 kg when she was admitted into the hospital on September 23.

However, the doctors at the Army Hospital (R&R) at the Delhi Cantt who have to their credit several successful liver transplants reassured them. Investigations revealed that the father would be an appropriate liver donor. According to experts, the removal of a part of the liver poses no harm to a donor because the organ has the capacity to regenerate fully within eight to 12 weeks.

Her father was delighted with the news and said that he was in debt to the doctors. “We had given up on hope. But I don't know how to pay gratitude to the doctors. Only a father can understand that”, he added.

The director general of Armed Forces Medical Services, Lt Gen Naresh Kumar revealed that the hospital has so far conducted 46 liver transplants including seven on children with great success.

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