Woman suffering from rare genetic disorder gets liver transplanted

Hyderabad:A team of doctors at the state-run Osmania General Hospital (OGH) here has successfully carried out a life-saving liver transplantation surgery on a 20-year-old woman suffering from a rare genetic liver and neurological disorder.

She received the liver from a brain-dead donor.

The woman, a BTech student, was suffering from Wilson’s disease, an autosomal recessive genetic disorder in which copper accumulates in brain, liver and eyes due to defect in copper excretion mechanism and manifests as neurological or psychiatric symptoms and liver disease, an official release said.

The excessive copper deposits causes damage and death of tissues, and scarring, which causes the affected organs to stop working properly, it said.

“The girl was admitted at OGH with end stage liver failure and neurological symptoms (gait abnormalities and shaking of hands and unable to do fine movements). She was receiving pencillamine and zinc therapy for the last 13 years but without any improvement,” the release said.

Her father, working at a chit fund firm here, admitted her to OGH after many private hospitals said around Rs 30 lakh is required for liver transplantation, an amount he could not afford.

“We did successful cadaveric liver transplantation on her in OGH with the help of Telangana government for free of cost on August 5. The patient recovered very well and discharged on August 18,” said Ch Madhusudhan, HoD, Gastroenterology at OGH.

The brain-dead donor, a 40-year-old man from Mahbubnagar, had met with accident on August 2 at Shamshabad. He was admitted at OGH and after confirming that he was brain dead, his family members were counselled for organ donation, the release added.