Kathmandu, Jun 1

Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital has conducted its first living donor liver transplantation.

A team led by Dr Ramesh Singh Bhandari performed the transplant on a 58-year-old man suffering from liver cirrhosis.

The liver was donated by the patient’s 33-year-old daughter.

“It took 16 hours to complete the transplant. The patient is in intensive care unit and is out of danger. The patient will need close monitoring so we will keep him in ICU for at least 10 days,” said Bhandari, gastrointestinal and hepato-pancreato-biliary surgeon at TUTH.

“The hospital will perform one transplant each month for three consecutive months. After that, we will increase the number of transplants if everything goes well,” added the doctor.

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

The hospital had been preparing for liver transplant for the last three years.

A team led by Bhandari and other surgeons were trained in Australia while other team members were sent to India for training.

“This transplant will help ease financial burden on patients’ family. It will also end the hassle of having to go to foreign countries for liver transplant,”said Bhandari.

India is one of the popular destinations for Nepalis for liver transplant.

The cost of transplant stands at around Rs 25 lakh in Nepal. The same will cost above Rs 50 lakh in India.

People need liver transplant when the liver stops functioning.

The major causes of liver failure are, excessive consumption of alcohol and chronic hepatitis.

Complication from fatty liver also causes the liver to fail. Obesity has increased cases of fatty liver in the country, said the doctor.

“The whole liver of the patient is taken out and a part of the liver taken from the donor is transplanted.

Thirty to fifty per cent of liver is taken from the donor and transplanted onto the patient,” informed Bhandari.

Liver donors should be 18 to 55 years of age and in sound health. The donor should not be suffering from any kind of major illnesses such as diabetes, blood pressure,and heart diseases and should not have undergone any kind of abdominal surgery, according to Bhandari.

According to Human Body Organ Transplantation (Regulation and Prohibition) Act 1998, for organ transplant, the donor should be a close relative of the patient.