Dr Vivek Vij Performs First Auto Liver Transplant In North India

New Delhi: Leading private sector hospital chain Fortis Escorts has performed North India's first "auto liver transplant" to treat a damaged liver of a 35-year-old foreign woman.

Dr Vivek Vij, Head of the Department of Liver Transplant at Fortis Escorts, Okhla told a press conference here on Wednesday that during the operation the patient's damaged liver was removed and replaced with a healthy part of her liver. 

The patient made a rapid recovery after the operation and was discharged after eight days, seeing improvement in her condition. She did not even have to be given any kind of medicines which are usually necessary in case of organ transplant.

Tumor was slowly growing in patient's liver

Dr Vij said that during the investigation it was found thar a tumor was slowly growing in her liver which was damaging the liver and due to this about 75 percent of the liver had been damaged. He told that if it is not treated on time and properly, then there was a danger of the infection spreading to the lungs, kidneys, blood vessels and even the intestines. Liver transplantation is the treatment for most cases of Echinococcus Multilocularis.

Dr Vij said that removing the damaged liver of the patient was quite a challenging task as the liver was connected to other vital tissues and structures around and there were risks of damaging other vital organs or other complications and bleeding.

A new technique i.e. auto liver transplant was adopted

Dr. Vij told that in this case a new technique i.e. auto liver transplant was adopted in which the damaged part of the patient's liver is removed and the healthy part of the patient's own liver is transplanted in its place. This operation lasted for about eight hours. He told that the patient had pain in her stomach for the last about three months.

He told that this auto liver transplant is the first in North India and the second in the whole of India. Its cost is about half of the normal transplant, about Rs 10 lakh. He told that a completely healthy person can undergo auto liver transplant if necessary. 30 percent of its liver should be healthy.