KARACHI - Six patients, including two children aged 3 and 13 suffering from liver failure, got a new lease of life when they were successfully operated upon by a team of surgeons from Shiraz and SIUT. All donors were close blood relatives of the recipients.
A team of Iranian surgeons from Ibne Sina Centre of Shiraz is currently visiting Karachi as part of a collaborative programme between the two medical institutions. So far, 15 living donor liver transplants have been carried out successfully under this initiative.
This is part of a regular feature, which was organised by MESOT (Middle East Society of Organ Transplantation) and was aimed at sharing expertise and enhance professional skills of professionals. 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 ICU on ventilators can donate kidneys and liver after family’s consent.
Deceased organ donation can save up to 0.2 million patients of terminal organ failure every year. Unless people pledge their organs during their lifetime, it is not possible to save these patients. 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.