KARACHI: Around six patients, including two children, with a liver failure, received a new lease of life when they were successfully operated upon by a joint team of surgeons from Shiraz, Iran and Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT).
All the donors were close blood relatives of the recipients.
A team of Iranian surgeons from Ibne Sina Centre of Transplantation Shiraz visited as a part of a collaborative programme between the two medical institutions. So far, fifteen liver transplants have been carried out successfully with this initiative.
This is part of a regular feature which was organised under the auspices of Middle East Society for Organ Transplantation (MESOT) and aimed at sharing expertise and enhancing professional skills.
Shiraz Centre of Transplantation is one of the largest liver transplant centres in the region.
Living donor liver transplant can fulfil the need of only a small portion of patients.
An estimated 100,000 liver transplants are required every year. This can only be achieved through deceased organ donation where the patients dying in ICUs on ventilators can donate kidneys and liver after family’s consent.
Deceased organ donation can save up to 2 lac patients of end stage organ failure every year. “Unless people pledge their organ during their lifetime, we will not be able to save these patients,” says SIUT official.
SIUT had earlier performed transplants from three deceased organ donors saving the lives of six patients of end-stage organ failure. The awareness about organ donation is spreading in the community and hopefully more lives can be saved by people pledging their organs.
