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Two hospitals in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore collaborated to perform the country's first ever inter-hospital swap liver transplantation, giving a new lease of life to two patients suffering from end-stage liver disease, the hospitals said on Friday. The complex procedure was simultaneously performed through joint efforts of the GEM hospital and Sri Ramakrishna hospital, Coimbatore, on both the patients at the respective hospitals on July 3. "Unlike the conventional living donor liver transplant where a relative donates directly to the patient, a swap transplant enables patients who do not have a compatible donor within their own family to exchange donors with another family in similar situation," a release here said. This approach expanded the donor pool and offered a new hope to patients with end-stage liver disease who would otherwise remain on long waiting lists or have no viable curative treatment option, the release said and described it as "a historic medical feat." The procedure
Amid a spike in fatty liver disease, hepatitis and cirrhosis across all age groups, experts have raised concerns over the consumption of sugary and processed foods, stressing that diet plays a direct role in liver health and overall wellness. Besides satisfying hunger, wholesome food also has the power to heal, restore and protect, they said. Currently, youngsters aged 23-30 are getting diagnosed with fatty liver due to constant consumption of sugary, fatty, junk, canned and processed foods," Greeneagles Hospital director ((HPB surgery, pancreas, intestine and liver transplant) Dr Anurag Shrimal said. "It is, therefore, imperative that individuals begin to pay close attention to their eating habits. What we eat plays a direct role in how well our liver functions, he said in a statement on Saturday. Symptoms such as fatigue, jaundice, swelling and abdominal pain often go unnoticed, he stated. Hence, conditions like fatty liver, hepatitis and cirrhosis are on the rise in people of a