Doctors in New Delhi have performed a rare liver transplant on a four-year-old Pakistani boy that did not involve any blood transfusion.
Safi Khan from Lahore was suffering from a genetic disorder, which could not have been corrected without a liver transplantation, Dr A S Soin, the liver transplant surgeon at Gangaram Hospital whose team performed the surgery, told reporters.
The doctor claimed it was the first bloodless liver transplant in the country. The eight-hour surgery was done using special equipment that helped reduce blood loss. However, precise dissection and meticulous operative technique were the most important part of the entire procedure, Soin said.
The equipment included thermal and argon beam coagulators, thromboelastograph, low pressure anaesthesia with non-invasive cardiac indices monitoring and cell saver machines, he said. The procedure also reduced the duration for which ventilator was needed, thus increasing the success rate, reducing chances of chest infection and cutting cost, he said.
The patient received a fourth of his uncle's liver on April 9. A liver transplant is regarded as one of the most complex operations that conventionally involves considerable blood loss needing blood transfusion, he said.
In blood transfusion the patient runs the risk of contracting diseases like Hepatitis B and C, HIV, malaria etc.
Besides, infection could also be caused by viruses yet to be discovered.
The entire liver of the patient, suffering from progressive jaundice since he was eight-month-old, hardly had any healthy tissue left, the doctor added.
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