Another man gets liver transplant as intended recipient takes ill

Surgeons at Apollo Hospitals here had to work under an extremely tight deadline after being alerted at the last minute about the availability of a donor liver in what turned out to be the second organ transplant in Bengaluru on Thursday.

Hospitals get alerts about 10 hours ahead of the transplant to plan the procedure, but that was not the case at Apollo Hospitals on Bannerghatta Road. On Thursday, a donor liver was flown from Mangaluru to Bengaluru and taken to Manipal Hospitals on Old Airport Road for transplant. But the recipient there took ill and, in a last-minute move, the liver was taken to Apollo Hospitals for transplant.

Dr Mahesh Gopasetty, transplant surgeon, Apollo Hospitals, said they were alerted about the donor liver at 7.30 am. “We quickly activated our system to see if we had a suitable recipient. We had one, and he was called in at 8 am. Since he hails from Salem, we arranged an ambulance for him from Krishnagiri to ensure that he reaches in time,” Dr Gopasetty told Deccan Herald. Ideally, the liver should be transplanted within eight to ten hours. “The procedure was over in nine hours,” he added.

The liver is that of a 21-year-old brain-dead boy, Vineeth Raj. It was retrieved at AJ Institute of Medical Sciences there. It was then flown to Bengaluru and zipped on a green corridor to Manipal Hospitals and later to Apollo Hospitals.

The recipient is a 50-year-old man who suffered from Cryptogenic Liver Disease and liver cancer. He was awaiting transplant for the past six months.