Quaternary care super-specialty hospital MGM Healthcare in Chennai, announced a rare feat by successfully carrying out a living donor liver transplant on a 45-year-old patient, overcoming the challenge of the blood group incompatibility. The 12-hour long procedure was led by Dr Thiagarajan Srinivasan, and his team of transplant specialists including Dr Karthik Mathivanan and Lead Anaesthetists Dr Dinesh and Dr Nivash.
Blood group incompatibility between a donor and a recipient is generally considered a barrier to kidney or liver transplant. The doctors at MGM Healthcare employed a new technology in the form of using a highly selective blood group antibody absorption device (glycosorb) in a series of four patients. The patient Unnikrishnan from Kerala had developed chronic liver failure and was waiting for a liver transplant for more than three years after visiting several hospitals in India. With a huge demand supply mismatch, Unnikrishnan was not able to get a suitable cadaveric organ and further to his dismay, there was no blood group compatible living donor in his family.
Dr Thiagarajan Srinivasan, Director, Institute of Liver Transplant and HPB surgery, who headed the multidisciplinary team of doctors at MGM Healthcare said, “This opens hope for the many who have been waiting for transplants and is also paving way for faster recovery. Our team had a cumulative experience of more than 40 such liver transplants across blood groups but there were multiple challenges in the form of increased infections and rejections. But after employing the new technology in the form of using a highly selective blood group antibody absorption device glycosorb, the results were excellent.”
He further said the facilities and resources required for performing these complex protocols are not commonly available even in the best of centres and can be only performed in advanced centres where specialised liver specialties are available.
Explaining the procedure, Dr Thiagarajan said first we stop the production of new blood group antibodies by rituximab and removal of existing blood group antibodies with the glycosorb filter and using specialised induction agent (basiliximab) and living donor liver transplant is performed with a blood group incompatible donor and successfully followed up lifelong.
Harish Manian, CEO MGM Healthcare said, “The recent advancements in technology have led to successful outcomes in the field of transplant surgery with ABO incompatibility. MGM Healthcare, by employing a new cutting-edge technology in the form using a highly selective blood group antibody absorption device, will continue to render more quality healthcare services at MGM Healthcare.”