Transplant surgeons at the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Centre (PKLI) in Lahore have successfully conducted Pakistan’s inaugural ‘split-liver transplant’ and the country’s first pancreatic transplant this week, officials announced on Wednesday.
According to experts, around 8,000 patients need liver transplants each year after the vital organ fails or they get cancer in it.
“With the help of a liver donated by a young man, who was pronounced brain dead at a Rawalpindi hospital, we have performed Pakistan’s first split-liver transplant. We divided the vital organ into two and transplanted them to an adult and a little boy, who were facing liver failure,” Dean and Chief Executive Officer PKLI&RC Dr Faisal Saud Dar told The News.
Similarly, the pancreas of the deceased, a 32-year-old man, was transplanted to a Type-1 diabetes patient, Dr Faisal Dar said, adding that it was also the first pancreatic transplant in the history of Pakistan.
The deceased donor, identified as Uzair Bin Yasin, had expressed his desire to donate all vital organs posthumously, including the liver, pancreas, both kidneys, and eyes. The organs were harvested to save the lives of seven individuals in Rawalpindi and Lahore.
Dr. Faisal Dar personally retrieved the liver and pancreas from the donor on Sunday at a Rawalpindi health facility and expedited their transportation to PKLI&RC Lahore for the transplants on the same night. The liver was divided into two unequal halves, and separate teams performed the transplants on an adult and a child.
Explaining the significance of split-liver transplantation, Dr. Faisal noted that it involves dividing a single deceased donor liver into right and left portions, which are then implanted into two recipients simultaneously. Typically, the adult patient receives approximately 60 percent of the liver, while the pediatric patient receives the remaining 40 percent.
Regarding the pancreatic transplant, Dr. Faisal highlighted its success rate, stating that about 90 percent of patients no longer require insulin injections within the first year following the surgery, with more than two-thirds remaining off insulin thereafter.
Dr. Faisal Saud Dar, renowned as the pioneer of liver transplantation in Pakistan, has performed over 2,000 liver transplants to date, including the recent historic split-liver and pancreatic transplants.
“A few years back, we performed Pakistan’s first liver auto-transplantation at Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) Karachi, where the diseased liver of a young man was retrieved and after surgical removal of cancerous parts, it was re-transplanted to the patient. Now, we have performed Pakistan’s first split-liver and pancreatic transplants successfully, which are great achievements for us,” he added.
The successful completion of Pakistan’s first split-liver and pancreatic transplants marks a significant milestone in the country’s medical history, showcasing advancements in organ transplantation and underscoring the potential to save countless lives through organ donation and transplantation initiatives.
