Bangla kid undergoes emergency liver transplant

New Delhi: A new lease of life was provided to a 35-month-old toddler from Dhaka, Bangladesh, who developed an acute liver failure, by the doctors of a privatre hospital here on Tuesday.

Aman Jawad Uddin developed jaundice in August-end and the condition progressively got worse and deteriorated to such an extent that he developed coagulopathy (condition in which the blood’s ability to coagulate (form clots) is impaired (prothrombin (a blood test) time increased to 70 seconds, normal is 13 seconds) and went in to a coma. The doctors informed the child’s family that he needed an urgent liver transplant to overcome the condition.

Due to worsening jaundice, regular vomiting, irritability, the child was admitted in a hospital at Dhaka on September 11 and the diagnosis — was acute liver failure due to Hepatitis A. 

“The family contacted Apollo Hospitals and an aircraft was arranged and the Indian high commission issued a visa in record time. 

Since a storm developed over Dhaka, the rescue team was delayed by four hours. The child reached the hospital in the afternoon and on assessment, a decision for an emergency liver transplant was made. 

Treatment was began to protect the baby’s brain from cerebral edema. His mother Tanjim Raha’s liver was found to be appropriate for donation and, 36 hours after arriving in Delhi on Sept. 20, the toddler underwent a  liver transplant,” the doctors said. 

Apollo Hospitals group medical director and senior pediatric gastroenterologist and hepatologist, Dr A. Sibal said, it was a critical case because the child was already in stage 3 of hepatic encephalopathy. 

“This meant that his liver was not removing the toxins from his body, which were damaging his brain function. With his condition deteriorating fast, liver transplantation was seen as the only treatment to save the kid’s life. Happy with Aman’s recovery, we discharged him in three weeks,” he said. 

The liver transplant was successful and by the fifth day after the operation, the toddler’s encephalopathy condition had improved.