Doctors at City-based Gem Hospital, along with specialists from Noida, recently conducted a laparoscopic assisted liver donor hepatectomy successfully.

Dr. C. Palanivelu of Gem Hospital performed the hepatectomy, while Dr. A.S. Soin, Chairman, GEMedanta, Noida near Delhi, performed live donor transplant on the 48-year old male, a few days ago. This is said to be the first time that such surgery has been done in south India.

Balasubramaniam of Palakkad was suffering from liver cirrhosis for more than a year and recently diagnosed to have stage two liver cancer, Palanivelu told reporters here today.

Liver transplantation was the only treatment to save his life, as resection (removal of cancerous part) could not be done due to risk of liver failure and his wife Sheeba came forward to donate her liver to him, he said.

The transplant was done on Balasubramaniam and was now fit for discharge in another 10 days, while Sheeba recovered in four days. Both were present at the press conference.

While surgery to remove part of the liver from the donor took nearly six to seven hours, the transplantation took eight to nine hours, Soin said.

Stating that 80 per cent of liver transplantation was done through donors and 20 per cent by cadaver transplant, Soin said that there was no age barriers for transplantation, since he has carried out surgery on a two-year-old baby some six months ago in his centre in Noida.

Soin said that his team has the country’s largest and the World’s second largest experience in liver donor liver transplant, having performed more than 2,500 transplants.