Liver transplant done on 49-year-old patient

A team of doctors of city-based Kovai Medical Center and Hospital (KMCH) today said they have successfully performed liver transplant, claimed to be for the first time outside Chennai in Tamil Nadu.
The liver was harvested from a 22-year-old donor, who was declared brain dead after a road accident in Tiruchirapalli, and transplanted to a 49-year-old man from Delhi on July 3, KMCH Chairman Dr Nalla G Palanisamy told reporters here.
The patient was suffering from cryptogenic (unknown cause) end stage liver disease and the challenging and complicated surgery lasted for eight hours, he said.
The patient had made very good progress and had been shifted to the ward, and would be discharged from the hospital in another two weeks, Dr Magnus Jayaraj Mansard, the liver surgeon, said.

The success rate of liver transplantiona was around 90 per cent and it costs about Rs.15 lakh to Rs.30 lakh. The procedure was covered under Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme in Tamil Nadu, Dr Olithselvan, Hepatologist, said.