A surgical team, led by Dr. S. Venkanandan, Head, Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital (KMCH) Liver Institute, successfully performed a domino liver transplant on two patients recently. This procedure allowed the medical team to use one donor liver to save two lives. The first transplant recipient is a 38-year-old male patient who was suffering from a rare condition called Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy (FAP). The second patient, a 50-year-old male, was diagnosed with Decompensated Cryptogenic Cirrhosis.

38-year old Sivkumar, a resident of Tirupur and suffering from FAP, received the liver from V. Natarajan, an Erode-based private bus driver who was declared brain-dead. Sivkumar’s own liver, was in turn, harvested and transplanted into 50-year-old Jagidesh, the decompensated cryptogenic cirrhosis patient.

The team of doctors at Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital performed the two transplant surgeries simultaneously.

Addressing a press meet today, Dr Nalla G. Palaniswami, Chairman of KMCH, said, “With two transplant teams performing simultaneous surgeries, the patient with FAP received a new liver from a brain-dead donor. The liver of the patient suffering from FAP was dominoed, or transplanted, into the 50-year-old patient.”

Performing two liver transplant procedures simultaneously involves perfect coordination of both the medical teams.

This is also the 50th liver transplant surgery to be performed by KMCH. The first liver transplant surgery at KMCH was done about two years ago.