Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad has introduced Normo-thermic liver perfusion technology’ in liver transplantation.

Talking to newsmen on September 10 after unveiling the most advanced technology, Yashoda Group of Hospitals Managing Director Dr G S Rao said “Organs donations saves life and they are very scarce. Technology to preseve donor liver a little longer will be of great help in reaching out more the needed surpassing the georgraphical distances.

Such an innovative technology, Normo-thermic Perfusion technology was used for the first time in Telugu States by Yashoda Hospitals here, he added and said It is truly a new leap of advancement in organ transplantations.” Dr Rao said that this machine maintains the Liver at more or less physiological state, avoiding depletion of cellular energy and accumulation of waste. This increases the window of transplantation up to 24 hours from the current 4-8 hours, while also allowing for easier access and transportation. In this period we can have a fair assessment of Liver function as well, he said.

The Hospitals MD said that this machine was used in three consecutive cases at Yashoda Hospital, Secundrabad. One was a elderly 67-year-old male donor with significant history of Alcohol, LFT showed significantly elevation of bilirubin and ultrasound showed mild to moderate fat. Other was a Liver donor with significant elevation of enzymes and was on very high pressure support. Both these Livers would have been rejected in normal circumstances.

After connecting to this machine for 6-8 hours we found excellent liver function and went ahead with the Transplant. Both patients despite being very sick had an uneventful course and quick recovery. So far 3 patients were successfully transplanted liver getting a new lease of life using this advanced technology.

Dr Balachandran Menon, Senior Liver Transplant Surgeon, Yashoda Hospitals who led the surgical team performing this pathbreaking procedure said, ”Presently cadaveric liver is accepted based on LFT, ultrasound and its per-operative appearance and hence lot of livers get rejected or retrieval is not attempted. With this machine we can have a real time picture of the quality and function of donated liver, thus not only increasing the use of marginal livers but also improving the postoperative recovery rates.”

According to Dr Rao, Yashoda Group of Hospitals has collective expertise of over 2000+ liver transplants in major hospitals around the world. “Our team is doing about 12-14 Liver transplants per month. Over 200 transplants were completed in the last 2 years. The team is presently helping in conducting transplants in Mayanmar, Mongolia, Georgia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan,” he said.