First intestine transplant performed in Indian state of Telangana

Hyderabad: The first successful intestine transplant in Telangana has been done by doctors at state government-run Osmania General Hospital.

A 40-year-old male patient with short gut syndrome and on Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) support was admitted to Osmania Hospital, and found to have repeated central line infections and major central vein thrombosis.

According to doctors, he underwent massive small bowel and right colon resection for massive gangrene due to acute Superior Mesenteric Artery (SMA) occlusion. Only 30 cm of the proximal jejunum, starting from the duodenojejunal (DJ) flexure, had remained intact.

Doctors at Osmania Hospital performed a cadaver small intestine transplant on April 19. Doctors said that the patient is now tolerating a soft diet orally, and his ileostomy is functioning well.

A protocol endoscopy performed on the seventh postoperative day revealed a healthy, pink mucosa in the transplanted bowel. Biopsy results confirmed there were no signs of rejection, doctors said.

This came a few days after doctors at Osmania Hospital achieved a breakthrough by successfully performing a liver transplantation on a 14-year-old patient suffering from Marfan’s syndrome and very severe hepatopulmonary syndrome (HPS).

Marfan’s syndrome is a genetic disorder that makes body tissues fragile and increases the risk of heart problems, while HPS is a rare and serious condition where liver disease leads to low oxygen levels and widening of blood vessels in the lungs, making it hard to breathe.

A team of hepatologists, pulmonologists, cardiologists, and transplant surgeons at the hospital spent months evaluating the patient’s condition before taking a decision to perform the transplantation despite the risks involved.

A team of 30 doctors performed the surgery that lasted for 20 hours. Doctors had termed it a global milestone.

Osmania Hospital is the oldest and one of the major government-run healthcare facilities in the state.

Conceived after the devastating Musi floods of 1908, the Osmania Hospital was built by Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last Nizam of the princely state of Hyderabad, and named after him. Built in the Indo-Saracenic style, it was completed in 1919 and has been host to many prominent medical conferences and research initiatives over the last 100 years.

Indo-Asian News Service