indianexpress.com :: After liver and kidney failure, 61-year-old gets new lease of life

After liver and kidney failure, 61-year-old gets new lease of life

Express news service

Posted online: Friday, November 30, 2007 at 0000 hrs IST

Pune, November 29
Sixty One-year-old Nirmal Sharma from Pune has become India’s “first patient” to be cured of double organ failure by a combined liver and kidney transplant.

The path-breaking surgery from two live donors for terminal liver and kidney failure was performed by a 50-member transplant team led by Dr A S Soin at New Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) in an operation that lasted 15 hours.

Sharma, who was discharged two weeks after the life-saving double transplant that was performed on September 11, told mediapersons on Thursday that she was leading a normal life.

“I had liver disease that was diagnosed two years back while performing a minor operation of the removal of the gall bladder. Soon I suffered from repeated collection of water in the abdomen, infections, extreme tiredness and attacks of semi-coma,” she said. The Sharmas soon sought treatment at SGRH.

Dr Soin, head of the liver transplant surgery at the hospital, said that they tried hard to improve the condition of her kidneys before the operation to avoid the daunting and complex task of operating on a patient with double organ failure. But when she did not respond to treatment, a decision was taken for a combined transplant. “This was a challenge for us,’’ Soin said, adding, that they had to remove half a liver and kidney simultaneously from two separate living donors.

After detailed testing, doctors found her nephew Vineet Salhotra and her husband Vinod suitable for liver and kidney donation respectively.

“The operation had to be timed like clockwork since it involved operating on three persons simultaneously in three different operating theatres. There have been other reported cases of patients being cured by twin transplants using organs from cadaveric brain dead donors in western countries but due to the lack of such donors in India, we had to resort to using two live donor organs in this operation,” the doctors said.

The SRGH has conducted 190 liver transplants from 2001-07.

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After liver and kidney failure, 61-year-old gets new lease of life Express news service Posted online: Friday, November 30, 2007 at 0000 hrs IST Pune, November 29 Sixty One-year-old Nirmal Sharma from Pune has become India’s “first patient” to be cured of double organ failure by a combined liver and kidney transplant. The path-breaking surgery from two live donors for terminal liver and kidney failure was performed by a 50-member transplant team led by Dr A S Soin at New Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) in an operation that lasted 15 hours. Sharma, who was discharged two weeks after the life-saving double transplant that was performed on September 11, told mediapersons on Thursday that she was leading a normal life. “I had liver disease that was diagnosed two years back while performing a minor operation of the removal of the gall bladder. Soon I suffered from repeated collection of water in the abdomen, infections, extreme tiredness and attacks of semi-coma,” she said. The Sharmas soon sought treatment at SGRH. Dr Soin, head of the liver transplant surgery at the hospital, said that they tried hard to improve the condition of her kidneys before the operation to avoid the daunting and complex task of operating on a patient with double organ failure. But when she did not respond to treatment, a decision was taken for a combined transplant. “This was a challenge for us,’’ Soin said, adding, that they had to remove half a liver and kidney simultaneously from two separate living donors. After detailed testing, doctors found her nephew Vineet Salhotra and her husband Vinod suitable for liver and kidney donation respectively. “The operation had to be timed like clockwork since it involved operating on three persons simultaneously in three different operating theatres. There have been other reported cases of patients being cured by twin transplants using organs from cadaveric brain dead donors in western countries but due to the lack of such donors in India, we had to resort to using two live donor organs in this operation,” the doctors said. The SRGH has conducted 190 liver transplants from 2001-07.