Healthy Soch
New Delhi, November 8, 2017: Indraprastha Apollo Hospital provided a new lease of life to a 2 year 11-month old toddler from Dhaka, Bangladesh who developed acute liver failure. Aman Jawad Uddin developed jaundice at end of August which progressively got worse. Due to worsening jaundice, vomiting and irritability, he was admitted in a hospital at Dhaka on September 11, 2017. A diagnosis of acute liver failure due to Hepatitis A was made. His condition deteriorated to such an extent that he developed coagulopathy (prothrombin time increased to 70 seconds, normal is 13 seconds) and went in to a coma. The family was told that the child needed an urgent liver transplant. The family contacted Apollo Hospitals and an aircraft was immediately arranged. The Indian High Commission issued a visa in record time. A storm developed over Dhaka on the morning of the air rescue and the team was delayed by 4 hours. The child reached Apollo Hospital in the afternoon and on assessment, a decision for an emergency liver transplant was made. Treatment was initiated to protect his brain from cerebral edema. His mother Tanjim Raha’s liver was found to be appropriate for donation and 36 hours after arriving in Delhi on September 20, the child underwent a living related liver transplant.
The liver transplant was successful and by the 5th day after the operation, his encephalopathy had improved. He started recognizing his parents and speaking.
Dr Anupam Sibal, Group medical Director, Apollo Hospitals Group and Senior Pediatric Gastroenterologist and Hepatologist, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals spoke about the case, “It was a very critical case because the child was already in Stage 3 Hepatic Encephalopathy. This meant that his liver was not removing the toxins from his body which were damaging his brain function. With his condition deteriorating fast, an emergency liver transplantation was the only treatment to save the life of the boy. We were very happy that Aman made a remarkable recovery and he was discharged in 3 weeks.”
Dr Neerav Goyal, Senior Liver Transplant Surgeon at Apollo Hospitals Delhi, said “The child was very sick. We put him on dialysis immediately to stabilize his condition. A liver transplant in a child with acute liver failure is more demanding than a standard liver transplant. Aman’s clotting was severely damaged and that provided extra challenges”.
The first successful liver transplant in India was performed at Apollo Hospitals Delhi in 1998. Since then more than 2900 liver transplants have been performed at Apollo of which 235 have been in children. Sanjay the first child in India to have been successfully transplanted in India at the age of 18 months in 1998 is now a medical student leading a normal life.
