Bengaluru: Three years after losing their 12- year -old son, Mauritian couple, Murugessan and Malegay became proud parents of a baby boy again. But fate proved cruel again as they learnt their five month old son, Habilen, was suffering from a rare live condition, Progressive Familial Intre-Hepartic Cholestasis (PFIC).
Flying to Bengaluru to consult doctors here, they are now smiling once again as Habilen, who is now eight months old, has undergone a rare liver transplant using a piece of his 19- year- old sister, Noguny’s liver, at the Manipal Hospital here.
PFIC is a condition in which the bilirubin produced by the liver is not excreted and instead accumulates, damaging it. Habilen’s liver was seriously damaged (cirrhosis) in less than a year and the only option was to do a living donor liver transplant. Luckily for him, his sister volunteered to be the donor.
A portion of the liver weighing around 250 grams was taken from the girl and implanted in the baby after carefully removing the diseased liver. The surgery lasted for eight hours and was performed with the help of a special microscope to suture the blood vessels.
Dr. Sudarshan Ballal, chairman, Manipal Hospitals says baby Habilen’s case was not only rare and complicated but heartwarming as well as his sister came forward to donate a part of her liver to save him.
"Interestingly after a portion of the liver is resected it grows back to almost 90 per cent of its original size. In this case the donor has recovered well and will lead a normal life soon,” he assures.
A grateful Mr Murugessen says the doctors were very helpful., “We were very stressed out as we had already lost a son. The legal formalities to change my daughter’s tourist visa to a medical one took time. We would like to thank all the doctors and the entire team,” he adds.
“Our prayers were answered. Both our children are healthy and safe and we are all set to fly back to our country,” says his wife Malegay. The surgery was done by a team of transplant surgeons led by Dr. Ravichand, chief liver transplant surgeon of the hospital and included Dr. Magnus Mansard, liver transplant surgeon and specialist liver anaesthetist Dr. Navneethan.
