Third successful liver transplant surgery performed this week in Kolkata

A man got a new lease of life after a successful liver transplant surgery at a hospital here, in what was the third implant operation in Kolkata in a week.

The organ was transplanted in the 40-year-old man, who was suffering from chronic liver disease, following an almost three-hour-long surgery on Sunday, a senior doctor at Apollo Hospital said. "The surgery is successful. The patient is fine and is kept under observation," he said.

The liver was donated by a 47-year-old woman, who was declared brain dead at Medica Superspeciality Hospital, where she was admitted last week.

"The patient was diagnosed with massive intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) with intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH). Following massive bleeding and poor Glasgow coma scale (GCS) of the woman, operative intervention was ruled out and she was declared brain dead," Kunal Sarkar, a cardiac surgeon at the hospital, said.

The woman's relatives were counselled for the organ donation and her husband agreed to donate her heart and liver, following her death due to brain haemorrhage, he said.

"However, only the liver could be retrieved, as her heart was not fit for harvesting," the doctor said. A green corridor of around 10-kilometre was set up from Medica to Apollo Hospital in the EM Bypass with the help of Kolkata Traffic Police to transport the organ. The Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (ROTTO) authorities were duly informed regarding the case and the planned transplantation, he added.

On September 25, two heart transplants were carried out in less than 24 hours in Kolkata, with a 600-km green corridor being set up from Patna to the city for the second one.

(With inputs from agencies.)