Surgeons successfully perform Pakistan’s first ‘split-liver transplant’

Tariq Butt, Correspondent

In a remarkable feat, transplant surgeons have successfully performed Pakistan’s first ‘split-liver transplant’ as well as the country’s first pancreatic transplant at the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Centre (PKLI) Lahore, a report said.

"With the help of a liver donated by a young man, who was pronounced brain dead at a Rawalpindi hospital, we have performed Pakistan’s first split-liver transplant. We divided the vital organ into two and transplanted them to an adult and a little boy, who were facing liver failure,” the report said quoting PKLI Chief Executive Officer Dr Faisal Saud Dar.

Similarly, the pancreas of the deceased, a 32-year-old man, was transplanted to a Type-1 diabetes patient, Dar said, adding that it was also the first pancreatic transplant in the history of Pakistan.

The donor, identified as Uzair Bin Yasin, had wished to donate all his vital organs including the liver, pancreas, both kidneys, as well as eyes after death, and they were used to save the lives of seven people in Rawalpindi and Lahore, he added.

Both the corneas of the deceased donor were donated to Shifa Eye Trust Hospital in Rawalpindi, where they were transplanted to two people suffering from blindness, while both the kidneys were transplanted to two separate patients facing renal failure at a private health facility in Rawalpindi.

The liver and pancreas of the deceased donor Uzair were personally retrieved by Dr Dar at a Rawalpindi health facility, who then rushed to PKLI Lahore to perform the transplants on the same night. "At PKLI, I divided the donated liver into two unequal halves, and two different teams carried out the transplants to an adult and a child at our operation theaters,” he said.

He said another team of transplant surgeons carried out the pancreatic transplant, the first of its kind, where a diabetic patient with Type-1 diabetes received the healthy pancreas, claiming that the disease of the diabetic patient had been cured.

To a query, he said in a split-liver transplantation, a single deceased donor liver is divided into right and left portions that are implanted into two recipients simultaneously. Typically, an adult patient receives about 60 per cent of the liver (the right lobe), while a pediatric patient receives the other about 40 per cent of the liver (the left lobe).

"Deceased donor liver transplantation has been done before in Pakistan, but it is the first time that we retrieved a liver from the body of a deceased, transported it to around 400 kilometres away, and transplanted it into two patients simultaneously. Both the recipients are stable and recovering,” Dar added.

As far as the pancreatic transplantation is concerned, he said, a pancreas transplant is successful in about 90 per cent of patients who no longer have to take insulin injections within the first year following the surgery. After the first year, more than two-thirds of pancreas transplant recipients are still off insulin, he added.

Dr Dar is the pioneer of liver transplantation in Pakistan, who has so far performed over 2,000 liver transplants, including 1,700 liver transplants at different public and private health facilities across Pakistan.

"A few years back, we performed Pakistan’s first liver auto-transplantation at Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) Karachi, where the diseased liver of a young man was retrieved and after surgical removal of cancerous parts, it was re-transplanted to the patient. Now, we have performed Pakistan’s first split-liver and pancreatic transplants successfully, which are great achievements for us,” he added.

Praising the family of deceased Uzair Bin Yasin, he said they fulfilled the wish of their loved one and allowed doctors to remove all of his vital organs, which helped in providing new lives to seven people.

"Uzair was a real hero whose last wish saved several lives. We need to educate people that donating organs after death is a Sadqa-e-Jaria and a great service to humanity. Scores of lives can be saved with the help of cadaveric organ donation where the liver, lungs, kidneys, heart, small bowel, pancreas, corneas, tissues, bone marrow, and other organs can be donated and transplanted to the patients seeking transplantation,” he added.