Baby undergoes rare liver transplant
14 December 2013, 18:08 PM
UPDATED
15 December 2013, 00:29 AM
Ten-month-old Rand was diagnosed with a serious liver disease called Biliary Atresia at three month of age. The only option that could cure the disease was to transplant the organ.
Recently when her parents consulted doctors at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, Singapore, they took a challenging step to transplant a new liver. The baby underwent a "flipped liver" transplant which is extremely rare procedure, making her probably the youngest person in the world to undergo the controversial procedure. The surgeons took the left part of her father's liver, flipped it and placed it in the right side of her body.
The liver comprises two main parts, the bigger right lobe and the left lobe. A donated liver is usually implanted on the same side it came from to allow for the normal reconstruction of blood vessels and the bile duct. But in this case, only the left part of her father's liver was suitable for donation and left part is transplanted to the right side of baby's liver. The baby was successfully discharged after the procedure.
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