A liver transplant is a surgical operation in which a patient’s diseased liver is replaced with all or part of a healthy liver from a donor.
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What Exactly Happens During a Liver Transplant?
The average time for a liver transplant is 6 to 12 hours. Your liver will be removed and replaced with a donor liver by your surgeons. The surgeons will place multiple tubes in your body because a transplant is a significant procedure. These tubes are required to assist your body in doing specific tasks throughout the procedure and for a few days following.
In this article, Dr. Gaurav Gupta who is known for the best liver transplant in Mumbai will discuss everything about liver transplant surgery including the possible risks & complications.
Where Does a Transplantable Liver Come From?
You could receive a liver from a living or deceased donor.
Donor who is still alive
Your doctor will take a piece of a healthy person’s liver and implant it in you during a living donor liver transplant. In a few weeks, both liver segments will return to their normal size.
Deceased Donor
It’s possible that a deceased donor died as a result of an accident or a head injury. Although their heart continues to beat, they are legally dead because their brain has stopped functioning permanently. Usually, the donor is in an intensive-care unit. During the transplant, the team shuts off life support in the operating room.
Most of the liver transplant hospitals do not disclose the donor’s identity and the details of their death.
When Do You Need a Liver Transplant?
The liver is the largest internal organ in your body. The average adult weighs around 3 pounds. It’s on the right side of your belly, immediately below your diaphragm. Your liver performs a variety of functions, including producing proteins and breaking down nutrients from food to aid in the production of energy in your body.
If your liver isn’t working properly, you may need a transplant. This is referred to as liver failure. As a result of viral hepatitis, drug-induced damage, or infection, liver failure can strike unexpectedly. Acute or fulminant hepatic failure is the medical term for this condition. It could also be the outcome of a long-term issue (chronic). Chronic liver failure can be caused by a variety of factors, including:
- Primary biliary cholangitis is an uncommon disease in which your immune system attacks your bile ducts and kills them.
- Sclerosing cholangitis causes bile to back up due to scarring and constriction of the bile ducts inside and outside the liver.
- A rare liver condition that affects neonates is biliary atresia.
- Overindulgence in alcoholic beverages
- Hepatocellular carcinoma, for example, is a type of liver cancer.
- Wilson’s disease is a condition in which your body’s copper levels are abnormally high, including in your liver.
- Hemochromatosis is a condition in which your body contains too much iron.
- Cirrhosis is caused by alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, which is a rare buildup of a protein called alpha-1 antitrypsin in the liver.
What Is the Process for Getting a Liver Transplant?
If you are planning to opt for liver transplant in Mumbai then you must meet some of the criteria. If you meet the transplant criteria but don’t yet have a donor, the center will place you on a waiting list. It categorizes people by blood type, body size, and medical condition (how ill they are). Three blood tests (creatinine, bilirubin, and INR) are used to assign a priority score to each patient. In adults, the score is known as MELD (model of end-stage liver disease), while in children, it is known as PELD (pediatric end-stage liver disease).
A liver transplant is given first priority to patients with the highest scores and acute liver failure. If their condition worsens, their scores climb, and their transplant priority rises. The transplants will then be given to those who require them the most.
What Are the Risks of Having a Liver Transplant?
A liver transplant is a complicated treatment that can result in difficulties right away or years later.
Rejection
Things that infiltrate your body are destroyed by your immune system. However, it is unable to distinguish between your transplanted liver and undesirable intruders like viruses and bacteria. As a result, your new liver may be attacked by your immune system. This is referred to as a “rejection episode.” About 64% of liver transplant recipients experience organ rejection, with the majority of cases occurring during the first 90 days. Anti-rejection drugs will be given to you in order to prevent an immunological reaction.
Infection
Your immune system is weakened by the medicines you take to prevent your body from rejecting your new liver. Immunosuppressants are what they’re called. They increase your chances of contracting an infection. With time, this issue will fade away.
Problems with liver function
Approximately 1% to 5% of new livers do not function as well as they should or do not function at all. You might require a second transplant if things don’t improve rapidly.
Cancer
People who have received an organ transplant have a 25% higher risk of developing skin cancer than the general population. Immunosuppressive medicines can also increase your risk of developing other malignancies, such as post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD).
