Zahir Hussain, a 36-year old car mechanic from Perambalur, who was suffering from liver failure, visited GEM Hospital for a Laparoscopic Liver Transplant, which was successfully perofrmed at GEM Hospital on 13th Feb.
The organ was transplanted from the patient’s wife Nisha, a 34-year old house wife. Earlier, she had been operated on laparoscopically to remove the right part of her liver, the first of its kind in India.
The cost of the surgery was covered under Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Heath Scheme Insurance.
“This is the 26th transplant of its kind for the hospital. We are extremely happy to say that GEM is the only hospital in the country to have specialized in total laparoscopic transplantation,” said Dr.C.Palanivelu, Chairman, GEM Hospital.
“Liver is the only organ that grows after resection. It has 8 segments each having separate blood vessels. Even after taking half of the liver, it grows to normal size in 60 days. Through a few holes the liver is resected and removed through suprapubic incision. The scar is invisible scar; no blood transfusion is needed; no risk of infection; the immunity of the individual is intact; recovery takes just two days for the donor,“ added Dr.C.Palanivelu.
“I came to know only recently that laparoscopic liver donor operation is possible, so I thank the hospital for saving the life of my husband and our family,” said Nisha, the donor.
She also thanked Dr.Anand Vijay, Dr.Senthilnathan and his team for successfully performing the operation.
According to a release, Laparoscopic liver donor transplantation was done first the time in France and now this has become popular in Korea, Japan and China. GEM hospital is the first centre in India to perform the laparascopic liver donor operation. It is routinely done at the hospital, which offers great relief to such donors who are now recovering very fast after donor surgery, it says.