Milestone Overview

Zydus Hospital, Ahmedabad announced that it has now crossed the 300‑liver‑transplant threshold, marking the highest cumulative total for any centre in Gujarat. The press release links this achievement to the rising burden of non‑alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which the document cites as affecting one in four adults in India.

Multidisciplinary Transplant Programme

The hospital’s liver‑transplant programme integrates liver transplant surgeons, liver critical‑care specialists, anaesthesiologists, hepatologists, gastroenterologists and nephrologists to manage both living‑donor and deceased‑donor procedures, ABO‑incompatible grafts, paediatric transplants, planned transplants for chronic liver disease (CLD) and emergency cases of acute liver failure (ALF). Dr. Anand Khakhar, a liver‑transplant and HPB surgeon with over 25 years of experience and a Dr. B.C. Roy Award recipient, notes that roughly 40% of patients present with acute‑on‑chronic liver failure (ACLF) and require a transplant within 24 to 36 hours of admission.

Illustrative Cases

  • A 12‑year‑old boy from Junagadh arrived comatose, on ventilator support and dialysis. His mother volunteered as a donor; after the team identified necrotic liver tissue as the source of hypotension and suspected sepsis, they removed the necrotic liver, stabilised the patient and proceeded with transplantation. The child recovered and was discharged home.
  • A 22‑year‑old architecture student presented with ALF, required dialysis, toxin filtration and had a sister as a potential donor whose blood group was incompatible. Because the patient could not tolerate rituximab, the team performed continuous plasma exchange until antibody levels fell, then carried out a splenectomy followed by liver transplantation. The surgery succeeded and the patient recovered well.
  • A 37‑year‑old lean‑NASH patient was air‑lifted from Chandigarh in a dire state, weighing only 43 kg with lower‑abdominal wall infection and cellulitis. After intensive ICU care, physiotherapy and a month of rehabilitation, he was discharged and, two years later, is practising law. The liver‑critical‑care team and transplant‑rehab specialist Dr. Himani Goswami, together with nutritionist Shruti Bhardwaj, were instrumental in his recovery.
  • A 50‑year‑old man from Raipur with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease required a simultaneous liver‑kidney transplant. The procedure involved removal of a large, pus‑filled liver cyst and a cystic native left kidney to make space for the donor kidney, representing a highly complex dual‑organ transplant.

Team and Infrastructure

The hospital’s team includes senior gastroenterologists and hepatologists (Dr. Nilay Mehta, Dr. Ajay Choksey, Dr. Hardik Kotecha, Dr. Tejas Modi), nephrologists (Dr. Himanshu Patel, Dr. Prakash Darji, Dr. Devang Patwari, Dr. Kamal Goplani), anaesthetists (Dr. Meeta Agarwala, Dr. Kairav Shah, Dr. Vikram Patel, Dr. Paragsinh Gohil, Dr. Nimesh Prajapati) and radiologists (Dr. Bhavik Shah). Advanced infrastructure comprises modular operating theatres, dedicated liver ICUs, advanced MRI facilities and FibroScan imaging, all housed under one roof.

Living‑Donor Focus and Safety

Dr. Yash Patel emphasizes that donor safety is paramount, noting that in South‑East Asia about 80% of liver transplants involve living donors. The team strives to ensure donors return home in good health and experience unhindered recovery, positioning donor safety as a differentiator for the centre.

Outlook

The hospital underscores the need for greater community awareness to encourage living‑donor participation, given the regenerative capacity of the liver and the ability to donate a portion without compromising donor quality of life.