When four-year-old Guhan from Bengaluru developed sudden and erratic vomiting for two days, his parents thought it was a routine stomach infection and took him to a neighbourhood hospital.
But they were told by doctors that their child had a rare condition known as volvulus, a complication in which the twists of the intestine loop result in cutting off the blood supply to the intestinal loop.
Guhan was then referred to Rela Hospital in Chennai where doctors concluded that the only solution was intestinal transplantation and a seven-hour-long complex surgery was performed on him on September 13. The child was transplanted with 150-cm of the small intestine which was donated by his father, Swaminathan.
Four months later, Guhan has fully recovered from the surgery performed on him by a clinical team headed by Dr Mohamed Rela, Chairman and Managing Director, Rela Hospital. The announcement was made today by the hospital at a press conference attended by Health Minister Ma. Subramanian.
“With his small intestine functioning perfectly well, he is now free to have any kind of food like other children of his age. The donor, Mr Swaminathan has also resumed his day-to-day life, a healthy life,” the hospital said in a statement, adding that it has entered into the Asia Book of Records by performing the rare surgery.
“Transplanting a healthy small intestine was the only permanent cure, we managed to successfully perform the intestinal transplantation. Small intestine transplant is rarely done in India and I appreciate the determination of the parents to get their child back to lead a normal life,” Prof. Mohamed Rela said.
Dr Naresh Shanmugam, Senior Consultant - Children liver and gastro specialist, Rela Hospital said Guhan’s case was complicated as he had lost his entire small intestine to volvulus, and there was no chance for rehabilitation. “Hence his small intestine was removed, and nutrients were put directly into his bloodstream intravenously in liquid form. Luckily, we had a ready and loving donor in his father. With the transplanted intestine, Guhan can now move around independently and eat normally,” he said.
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