Liver Transplants

Liver Transplants

Apollo’s comprehensive liver transplant care programme aims to provide effective health care by connecting to people dealing with liver disease. The Centers for Liver Diseases and Transplantation, Apollo Hospitals, are equipped with the state-of-the-art technology for liver surgery using the laparoscopic Argon Beam Laser as well as Tissue Link in combination with other methods of liver resection like CUSA and Laparoscopic Vascular Stapling. Bloodless Liver Surgery is also performed with high success rates.

Milestones

• 500 liver transplantations done at Apollo Chennai’s Center for Liver Disease
• First successful:
  • Pediatric liver transplant in India
  • Adult liver transplant in India
  • Cadaver liver transplant in India
  • Transplant in acute liver failure in India
  • Liver-kidney transplant in India
• Fastest growing Liver Transplant program in India with the biggest cadaver program for liver.
• Over 775 Liver Transplants performed with a success rate of 90%.
• Multi-organ Transplant Programme at Delhi performed as many as 250 Liver and Kidney transplants in the year 2009.
• First of its kind Comprehensive Organ Transplant program being commenced at Apollo Hospitals, Chennai.
• One of the country’s busiest and rapidly growing Pediatric Liver transplant programmes at Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi.

Facilities

The ideal facilities which are required for Liver Transplantation, are present at multiple hospitals across the group, notably , Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi and Apollo Hospitals, Chennai.

• Liver transplant surgeries require meticulous aseptic measures. In keeping with this, we have separate OT facilities with laminar flow.
• The centres are equipped with the state-of-the-art technology for liver surgery such as the laparoscopic Argon Beam Laser as well as Tissue Link which are used in combination with other methods of liver resection like CUSA and Laparoscopic Vascular Stapling. Bloodless Liver Surgery is performed with high success rates.
• Blood Bank facilities are available round the clock, to take care of both routine and emergency cases.
• Specialized Pathology and Immunology facilities are available at our laboratories for the investigation of patients of liver transplantation- both donors and recipients.
• For patients requiring hospitalization, we have a dedicated Hepatobiliary Critical Care Unit, a Hepatobiliary physician on call, anesthesia staff and a specialized OR nursing team.
• For postoperative convalescence and monitoring of donors and recipients, dedicated ICU facilities and Multi Organ Transplant Unit (MOTU) facilities are available.

Who is eligible for liver transplant?

While a liver transplant is the best cure for most patients with non-metastatic liver cancer, the limited organ supply may make this option unviable. The eligibility criteria for transplantation is the presence of a single HCC tumor 5 cm or less in diameter, or fewer tumor nodules, each 3 cm or less in diameter. Both living relative and cadaveric liver transplants are options for patients at the Center for Liver Diseases & Transplantation, Apollo Hospitals,India. Patients who will obtain maximum benefit from liver transplantation include those who are estimated to have less than one to two years of life and have no alternative medical or surgical therapies. The liver transplant procedure helps prolong the patient’s life for at least five years and/or to restore the patient to a normal or near normal functional status. Thus, the overall goals of liver transplantation are to prolong life and improve the quality of life.

Pediatric liver transplantation is now an established and successful modality of treatment worldwide for children with acute and chronic end stage liver disease. The advent of new surgical techniques, immunosuppressive drugs, sophisticated peri and postoperative care has tremendously improved the survival rates in pediatric patients over the last four decades. In the current era, pediatric liver transplant has one and ten-year survival rates of 90 and 80% respectively.

Till a few years back, in the absence of liver transplant facilities in India, a patient with liver failure had only two options, certain death or travel abroad for a transplant. In 1998, India’s first successful pediatric liver transplant was performed in our unit. The recipient is now a healthy teenager. The youngest baby in India was successfully transplanted in August 2008 at the age of 7 months. We have recorded 90% survival rates. Our results are now comparable with the best centers in the West. The surgical expertise gained over the last few years combined with the lessons learnt in the medical management have contributed considerably to this achievement.

When is a pediatric liver transplant indicated?

The indications of pediatric liver transplant include biliary atresia, fulminant hepatic failure, chronic liver failure, metabolic disorders like Crigler-Najjar syndrome type I, primary hyperoxaluria type 1, urea cycle disorders and non-resectable hepatic tumors.

For more details visit www.apollolivercare.com