Bengaluru hospital celebrates more than 60 paediatric liver transplants

Bengaluru: “My son was diagnosed of biliary atresi, a rare disease of the liver, when he was just two months old and the surgery was done when he was three months old,” says Ms Parvathi, mother of now 10-year-old Shreyas, and adds that back then, liver transplant was not a well-known treatment option.

In June 2006, however, Parvathi and her husband agreed to for a liver transplant for their son. "He is fine now but continues to be on medication," says the mother, who was also a live liver donor for her son.

“It is very difficult to get paediatric cadaver liver donations, and we mostly rely on adult to paediatric donations which are also successful. In Shreyas’s case, his mother's liver matched and we went for it," say Dr Sanjay Rao and Dr Ashley D’Cruz, both senior pediatric surgeons specialising in paediatric liver transplants at Narayana Health City.

The Department of Paediatric Surgery and Liver Transplants at Narayana Health City on Sunday announced the completion of 10 years of the paediatric liver transplant programme at the hospital.

The facility has completed more than 60 successful liver transplants on children till date, but continues to face problems in bridging the gap between demand and supply. “The problems we face are negative inclination of families to opt for transplants, resource crunch for middle income groups as there is no government support and unavailability of donors,” says Dr Rao.

Sourcing livers continues to be a major hurdle. “Of some 3,500-4,000 children, who require liver transplants annually, only 100 transplants are conducted across the country. There is a need to create awareness,” says
Dr Rao.