Love has the power to conquer all the evil, whether natural or human-made. A couple from Bengal has proved that love is all about staying by each other’s side in the most challenging times of life to provide strength and support to each other.
Subhas and Mithu from Lakshmikantapur’s Poler Haat were having difficult times of their lives when the former was diagnosed with cirrhosis in the liver. Both were motivated to get Subhas retain normal health, and Mithu stood by his side in all the processes of the medical journey. Afterwards, the liver specialist informed them that Subhas would have to undergo liver transplantation and that is the only way to save his liver and life. A middle-class household was completely drowned in anxiety about the procedure cost or estimates, as family income was limited from their small-scale business.
Mithu was adamant and determined to search for a healthcare provider providing low-cost liver transplantation in India.
When they finally got the hospital, Mithu offered to give a part of her liver to save her husband’s life. Fortunately, everything worked out for them as the medical tests turned out to be positive and Mithu donated almost 60% of her liver to her husband and saved his life.
Table of Contents
Liver
A very important organ of human body, It is not possible for body to survive without it. Metabolism of drugs and toxins, clearance of ammonia and bilirubin from the blood, synthesis of essential enzymes and protein, for examples the factors necessary for blood to clot are the major functions of liver. Liver is the only organ of the body with the capability to regrow and regenerate.
Liver Transplantation
The replacement of the diseased liver with the healthy liver (either partial or full) is known as liver transplantation.
Who needs liver transplantation?
People with acute liver failure and chronic liver failure are required to undergo the surgical procedure of replacing the diseased liver with healthy liver of the donor.
Acute Liver Failure
Acute liver failure is also known as the fulminant hepatic failure. It occurs when the native healthy liver undergoes vast injury, and that turns out to be resulting in clinical symptoms and signs of liver inefficiency or insufficiency. There are various causes that lead to acute liver failure, for example, viral infection, ingestion of toxins like poisonous mushrooms, drug reactions etc.
Chronic liver failure
Although the liver is capable of repairing itself but the repeated injury for continuously many years leads to permanent damage of the organ known as the chronic liver failure. When the liver reaches the end stage of the scarring, the liver loses the capacity to repair itself and the person suffering from that starts to show the symptoms of poor liver functions, also known as decompensated liver disease. Albeit the medication to a level decrease the symptoms, but liver transplantation is the permanent cure.
Signs and Symptoms of liver disease
- Gastrointestinal Bleeding
- Fluid Retention
- Encephalopathy
- Jaundice
Some of the cause of Chronic Liver Injury
- Viral Hepatitis B
- Hepatitis C
- Alcoholic Liver Disease
- Metabolic Liver Disease
- Autoimmune Hepatitis
- Cholestatic liver disease
- Primary Biliary Cirrhosis
- Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis
- Neonatal sclerosing Cholangitis
- Biliary atresia
- Caroli’s disease
- TPN induced cholestasis
Who are all not the candidates for liver transplantation?
- Serious uncontrollable psychiatric illness.
- Incapability to adopt the strict medical regimen
- Active drug and alcohol abuse
- Uncontrollable infection
- Cancer that has spread outside the liver
- An irreversible medical illness that limits short-term life expectancy.
Types of organ donors
- Brain dead organ donors
- Cardiac death organ donors
- Living Donors
The sequence of the events that happen in the process of liver transplantation.
- Incision
- Assessment of abdomen for abnormalities
- Mobilization of native liver
- Placements of important structures
- Sewing in the new liver
- Ensuring sufficient control of bleeding
- Closure of the incision
Cost of liver transplantation in India
Cost of liver transplantation in India is both cost-effective and well-practiced procedure. Patients travel from all across the world to India for liver transplantation due to the availability of best healthcare professionals in the most cost-efficient way. In the developed countries like the USA, UK and Singapore the cost of liver transplantation is way higher and patient without any insurance or any other financial assistance opt for India for medical procedures such as liver transplantation. As it is among the places that have the best quality of surgeons and well-established healthcare institutes serving patients for a very long time now. India has a significant role to play in the global health scenario since World War 2.
Cost of liver transplantation in India is approximately $30000. Plus the care that patient gets during and after the surgical procedure helps them to regain initial strength in very less time.