Split liver surgery can save patients: Doctors

Chennai: Split liver surgery, if performed in various hospitals, will drastically bring down the deaths due to non availability of liver, said doctors in the city after performing a series of successful operations and studying the conditions of patients who underwent the surgery.

Tamil Nadu, despite being a pioneer in organ donations, is yet to bridge the demand and need gap when compared with developed countries, said liver transplant surgeons.

Doctors informed that before the surgery is conducted a liver is dissected into two parts, which is subsequently transplanted to patients in need of livers.

Medicos claimed that recipient patient of the split liver transplant could lead a normal life like any other people.

“In a split liver surgery a liver is divided and transplanted usua­lly to an adult and other part of a liver to children, in a course of time livers would fully regenerate. Normally a patient will take three months to fully recover,” said Dr Mohammed Rael, Director & Head, Institute of Liver Disease & Transplan­ta­t­ion, Global Hospitals Gro­up.

Experts said that only constant awareness of the people, about the need for organ donation, would solve the acute shortage.

“Presently the cadaver transplant done in 1.3 per million people, but the demand is 15 per million people. This split liver method needs lot of expertise while dissecting. This process ensures maximum utilisation of resources,” he said.

Medicos also said that the future research could also concentrate on transplantation of liver from a patient who had received it already.

“Many patients who received the liver are more willing, since they know the importance of donating organs. Presently, there are very less cadaver transplantation where org­a­ns of dead are transferred to needy patients. Due to th­is lacuna many are for­ced to look out for organs in living patients. In west­e­r­n countries majo­r­ity of the transplantation are cada­ver based,” said Dr Gomathy Narasimhan, Tr­a­n­s­plant surgeon, Global Hospitals.

The hospital administration has organised a reun­ion of all the patients who received split liver in the city ahead of International Liver Conference organised by the global hospital, scheduled on Thursday.

“My daughter’s liver was functioning only 10% and it was split liver surgery method saved her life at an extremely crucial phase and short time,” said K. Sathish Kumar, father of a split liver surgery patient.