State's first liver transplant in govt hospital

From Times of India

CHENNAI: It was a red letter day for doctors at the department of surgical gastroenterology of Government Stanley Medical College Hospital. In a marathon 13-hour-surgery, the doctors did their first liver transplant in the government sector in the state on a 40-year-old woman suffering from end-stage liver disease. The transplant was facilitated by the consent of parents of 19-year-old Karthik, who was pronounced brain dead at Kumaran Hospital on Poonamallee High Road, following a road accident.

After Karthik was pronounced brain dead by a neurologist at 3 pm on Wednesday, his parents agreed to sign the papers for his organ donation. The central organ registry at the Government General Hospital was contacted. The registry networked with several hospitals. While the heart went to Frontier Lifeline, the kidneys were shared by a government hospital and Kumaran Hospital. The liver was taken to Stanley and the eyes went to Shankara Nethralaya.

The central organ registry has so far coordinated nearly a dozen transplants since August 2008. "We see a marked improvement in awareness. Parents of the brain dead are now willing to sign the form. In most cases, we don't even have to explain things in detail. They have been reading about cadaver transplants in the media for sometime now," said a senior doctor at GH.

The doctors at Stanley were visibly happy. "We are elated. The surgery was long. But it was our first. It was successful. The patient is now on immunosuppressants and is doing well," said Dr R Surendran, head of surgical gastroenterology, who led the transplant. "In a few days, there will be an exclusive ward to keep patients pronounced brain dead. As a government hospital,we get a lot of accident victims, who are pronounced brain dead. So in the next three months, the number of transplants is likely to triple," he said.

The donation, according to the registry, has given a new lease of life to at least seven patients. "Till now, a majority of the transplants have been successful and all patients are doing well," said a doctor attached to the registry.