TUTH performs second living donor liver transplant

Kathmandu, July 19

Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital conducted its second living donor liver transplant today.

A team led by Ramesh Singh Bhandari had performed the transplant on a 44-year-old man suffering from liver cirrhosis. One of his son-in-laws, aged 28, donated his liver.

Both the recipient and donor have been kept in intensive care unit for observation. The health condition of both is stable, said Bhandari, gastrointestinal and hepato-pancreato-biliary surgeon at TUTH. A team from Fortis Hospital, Delhi, had assisted the medical team in the transplant.

This is the second transplant the hospital completed after its first successful transplantation in June. The hospital had planned to perform one transplant each month for three consecutive months. “We will increase the number of transplants if everything goes well,” said Bhandari.

“The whole liver of the patient is taken out, and thirty to fifty per cent of liver is taken from the donor and transplanted onto the patient,” informed Bhandari.

People need liver transplant when their liver stops functioning. Excessive alcohol consumption, chronic hepatitis and complications due to fatty liver are major causes for liver failure.

TUTH is the second hospital in the country to launch liver transplant service after Sahid Dharma Bhakta National Transplant Centre, Bhaktapur.

TUTH had been preparing for transplantation of liver for the last three years. A team led by Bhandari and other surgeons were trained in Australia.