1-yr-old is youngest recipient of liver transplant in Maha
NAVI MUMBAI: A critically ill oneyear-old baby, weighing 6.5kg, underwent a liver transplant surgery in Navi Mumbai and has recovered well, making him the youngest child in Maharashtra to have successfully faced such a procedure, doctors said.
The transplant was performed at Apollo Hospitals in Navi Mumbai, in February. The infant, Ram Mistry, was discharged in the last week of March, hospital authorities said at a press conference held on Thursday when baby Ram returned for a check-up.
Ram had a rare congenital condition called biliary atresia, which progressed to advanced liver cirrhosis. Within months of birth, he was diagnosed with end-stage liver disease.
Dr Darius Mirza, a multi-or- gan transplant Lead at Apollo Hospitals, said: “Biliary atresia is a rare disease in newborns, where the liver’s bile ducts are absent. It requires early surgical correction, which only works in 40% of the cases.”
The boy’s father Pritesh Mistry is a construction mixer supplier, while his mother Ishani Mistry is a homemaker. The couple was looking for help when an NGO, Transplants – Help the Poor Foundation, stepped in.
With donations from the NGO, and crowd-funding , the couple managed to meet the bulk of the transplant expenses. Contributions from the Tata Foundation Trust and a grant from Apollo Hospitals Navi Mumbai’s Corporate Social Responsibility unit made up the difference.
The baby’s aunt, his mother’s sister, volunteered to donate a part of her liver.