MGM Healthcare Chennai successfully performs India’s first Liver transplant with Hypothermic Oxygenated Perfusion on an end-stage liver disease patient

• HOPE Liver pump machine employed for the first time in the country

Chennai, June 25, 2021: MGM Healthcare, a multi-specialty quaternary care hospital in the heart of the Chennai, today announced that it had successfully conducted a Cadaveric Liver Transplantation on a patient with end-stage liver disease using an innovative - Hypothermic Oxygenated Perfusion (HOPE) liver pump - for the very first time in the country. The surgery was successfully  performed on 25/03/2021.

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A 50-member team under the leadership of Dr. Thiagarajan Srinivasan Director, Institute of liver diseases and Transplantation at MGM healthcare successfully conducted this complex liver pump procedure to expand the liver donor pool. 

Speaking about the procedure, Dr Thiagarajan explained “A 44-year-old end stage liver disease patient with rare AB blood group was in the state and country’s transplant waiting list for cadaveric donor liver for the past one year. Given that the patient had a rare blood group and slim chances of find a cadaveric donor liver, his situation was getting a little complicated. He did not have a matched compatible live liver donor and had a history of two unsuccessful previous near miss attempts in the waiting period to get the donor liver. However, about three months ago a cadaveric liver did become available, however the brain-dead donor was being administered high doses of blood pressure support drugs and was unstable.”

(L to R) Mr. Harish Manian , CEO, MGM Healthcare; Dr Karthik Mathivanan, Senior Consultant & Associate Director, Institute of Liver Transplant & HPB Surgery; Dr Thiagarajan Srinivasan, Senior Consultant & Director, Institute of Liver Diseases, Transplant & HPB Surgery, MGM Healthcare; Dr. Arulprakash S, Sr. Consultant & Clinical Lead-Gastroenterology & Hepatology; Dr Dinesh Babu, Consultant, Anasthesia; Dr Nivas, Consultant, Anasthesia, MGM Heathcare

As experts from institute of liver transplant MGM Healthcare, Chennai reached out to the patient, his family decided to accept the donor liver, due to the lack of any other viable options. A thorough consultation with Dr Thiagarajan and team ensued and, the family of the prospective recipient was informed that the donor liver was pale and on biopsy had a high fat content of 40%.

Dr Thiagarajan said “We decided to use HOPE machine pump in this case due to the complexity of the case as well as the condition of the donor liver. We used the machine pump on the donor liver after retrieval in the bench for 6 hours to make the liver transplantable into the patient. We took the organ, did a biopsy and kept it in dynamic cold perfusion for 6 hours. Normally a liver after retrieval from a braindead donor is perfused by static ice cold preservative solution. But the HOPE machine pump helped us in repairing and improving the quality of the liver by pumping preservative fluid into the organ at a temperature of 4-6 degrees and oxygen was further added to the fluid through a membrane oxygenator. The liver discard rate commonly is 15-20%, and with the use of this innovative technology it would help in reducing the discard rate and give a new lease of life to a lot of end-stage liver disease patients. 

“Even though normothermic machine perfusion has been used in the country but the high costs prevented the usage of procedure routinely. This HOPE procedure is low cost, innovative and revolutionary,” Dr. Thiagarajan Srinivasan said.

He further added with the state and industry support we can establish dedicated organ perfusion centres for marginal cadaveric livers which can help in expanding the liver donor pool and reducing the organ shortage and cost.

Dr. Karthik Mathivanan, Associate Director institute of liver diseases and Transplantation       MGM Healthcare noted “The patient’s condition remained stable throughout the transplant and in the post op period. He is now leading an active normal life with perfectly functioning new liver. Incorporation of innovative machine pump technology can save lot of lives and exciting new research is being conducted actively across the world and we hope to bring all the latest technology to India at an affordable cost”

Dr. Arulprakash S, Sr. Consultant & Clinical Lead-Gastroenterology & Hepatology,                           MGM Healthcare said “There is increasing in liver disease and consequently there is a demand of donor liver for transplant worldwide. This technology provides a chance of using marginal livers with good outcome and thereby reducing waiting time for patients awaiting liver transplant.

Harish Manian, CEO, MGM Healthcare explained, “we at MGM Healthcare always believe in ensuring highest standards of patient safety with best-in-class clinical outcomes and a seamless patient experience.  This rare cadaveric liver transplant with the assistance of a HOPE machine by our team is a testament of our hospital to continue to bring in the best of technology and let our patients have the access to the best of health infrastructure in the country. I applaud the efforts of the team led by Dr. Thiagarajan Srinivasan who made this transplant possible and for the patient's family to have faith in our team and wish him a healthy future."

Speaking on his experience Mr Ramprabhu said “I would like to thank the clinical team led by Dr. Thiagarajan Srinivasan at MGM Healthcare for giving me a fresh lease of life. I would like to thank the nursing team for their tireless service during theses testing times.”

About MGM Healthcare:

Born out of a need for altruism, MGM Healthcare is obsessed with bettering patient experiences and improving clinical outcomes through expertise, passion and technology. The manifestation of this dedication to superlative health-caring is a state-of-the-art hospital on Nelson Manickam Road having 400 beds, 50 out-patient consultation rooms, over 100 critical care beds, 250+ Doctors, 12 Centers of excellence, 30+ Clinical Departments, 12 state-of-the-art Operating Theatres and 24 x 7 comprehensive Emergency Care. Here, a host of eminent surgeons and physicians wield a potent combination of skill and cutting edge technology to elevate care and outcomes to new levels. MGM Healthcare is the first hospital in Asia with the highest rated USGBC LEED Platinum-certified Green Hospital.

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