more-in The acquisition of a new equipment has helped Apollo Hospitals’ liver transplant surgeons to reduce hospital stay for the patients. The machine, organox, maintains cadaveric livers for 24 hours. Mohammed A. Nayeem, senior consultant liver transplant surgeon at the hospital, said a third of the harvested cadaver organs are being wasted. Some of them are lost because the surgeon couldn’t be sure of their health. “A cadaveric liver can be preserved in the traditional method of ice and cold solution only for 8 hours whereas the machine can maintain it for 24 hours,” he explained. In the machine, the organ is maintained at body temperature by running two units of stored blood, matching the donor organ procured from the blood bank. The machine supplies oxygen, which in turn, preserves the organ, said Anil Vaidhya, liver transplant surgeon. According to the surgeons, the machine prevents injury to the organ and reconditions the liver too. During the preservation, the liver is tested for bile production, synthesis of lactates and sugar levels. When S. Rajendran, a 66-year-old businessman from Tiruchi, was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis, his first thought was that liver would regenerate. But doctors at Apollo Hospitals told him that the only option was transplant. “As Tiruchi is a small town and fewer people would have registered for transplant there I decided to opt for a surgery in my hometown,” Mr. Rajendran said. His son, a doctor with Apollo, Tiruchi, supported his decision. Mr. Rajendran underwent tests and on August 2, he was informed that a cadaver liver matching his blood group was available. The organ had been donated by the family of a 65-year-old man, who had died in a road accident. Transplant surgeons from Chennai flew along with Organox to Tiruchi and on August 3, Mr. Rajendran underwent the transplant surgery. Doctors said earlier the liver would have been declared suboptimal and not fit for use. But with the machine they were able to transplant it. The post-operative recuperation was uneventful and he was in the intensive care unit for 6 days and discharged later.

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