Pakistani Patient Gets a New Lease of Life

A Pakistani son donates his liver to his mother, say sources. "A team of 21 people including doctors and other staff of Sir Ganga Ram Hospital successfully transplanted the liver of her son in the Pakistani woman, Zaib Un Nisa, curing her of cirrhosis of liver August 14," said Associate Director, Hepatobiliary and liver transplant department of the hospital, Dr Naimish N. Mehta. Dr. Mehta said the liver was voluntarily donated by the woman's 27-year-old son Umar Subhani, who works in the office of the chief minister of Punjab, Pakistan. The family lives in Sialkot.

"Nisa was affected with Hepatitis-C four years ago and was undergoing treatment in a hospital in Pakistan. Hepatitis for a long period damaged her liver completely," Mehta told IANS. The woman was so unwell that she was unable to walk even a short distance.

"In January this year, the family approached the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital via email. They come to Delhi in February after getting a medical visa," said the doctor.

The doctor explained that the operation was technically challenging as Hepatitis C virus had caused damage to Nisa's hepatic artery (which carries oxygenated blood to the liver).

"During the liver transplant, the artery had to be reconstructed with a conduit. The conduit was obtained by removing a portion of the patient's right thigh vein. This reconstruction was simultaneously performed with implantation of the new liver so that an arterial supply carrying oxygenated blood was established for the new liver," said the doctor.

This operation was complex due to the arterial reconstruction; it took 16 hours, and cost Rs.17.75 lakh, the cheapest rate for a liver transplant in the country.

The patient's son told IANS that the hospital staff and the Indian student community had been very supportive. He had pasted notices seeking blood donors in Rajinder Nagar, and many students had volunteered.

"I have not donated my liver to my mother. I have only returned to her a body part that I got from her 27 years ago," Umar quipped. The donation was also an Eid-ul-Fitr gift.

Source-IANS