Rare liver-heart surgery at Apollo

Apollo Hospitals has performed a complex combined heart and liver transplant (CHLT) on a 30-year-old from Tiruc-hengode, Tamil Nadu.

According to the healt-hcare major, this complex procedure, known as an en-Bloc CHLT, has never before been attempted anywhere in Asia. This involves simultaneous heart and liver transplant, done with both organs taken as a single entity still attached to one another.

The patient, who suffering from cirrhosis of the liver, was advised a liver transplant.However, doctors found that he had a congenital condition called Ebste-ins anomaly — a failure of the right side of the heart to develop properly, which was the cause of the liver failure.

This required a combined heart and liver transplant, thus making it a highly risky procedure. The Apollo team, however, has successfully completed the surgery, which is the first in Asia, and the patient is recovering.

“The surgery is a result of days of meticulous planning by both our cardiac and liver transplant teams and showcases our strength in terms of infrastructure, and medical expertise,” said Dr Prathap C. Reddy, the chairman of Apollo Hospitals.