Eight-month-old IVF baby undergoes liver transplant in Delhi

Biliary atresia, a genetic liver disease, is one of the common reasons for a liver transplant in infants.

In an 11-hour-long surgery, an eight-month-old, severely malnourished IVF baby, underwent a liver transplant at a city hospital.

The baby boy— Nidish Vyas, weighed barely 4 kg that normally is the weight of an infant who is 4 to 8 weeks old.

“The infant developed jaundice soon after birth and suffered liver failure over the next few months. He was quite sick and severely malnourished when he was brought to us. He had lots of abdominal fluid, and weighed actually 3.5kg,” says Dr Anupam Sibal, paediatric gastroenterologist at Apollo Hospital, Delhi.

Nidish suffered from a genetic disease of the liver called biliary atresia because of which his liver failed to function normally.

Liver transplant in children is a challenging task and more so in babies that are small, owing to malnourishment.

Of all the liver transplants that Apollo does in a year about 35 are children, of which three-four are less than 5kg.

“In such small babies the blood vessels are very small, lungs are not strong enough and immunity is very low that increases the risk of infection,” says Dr Neerav Goyal, head of liver transplant at Apollo.

“Nidish’s vessels were not just very small but also blocked and we had to perform vessel repair separately,”

Dr Goyal and his team, including Dr Puneet Dargan, Dr Arun V and Dr Vaibhav Kumar, performed the surgery last month.

“He is recovering well and should be able to lead a normal life. He will have to be on immunosuppressant but in such small babies the dose is very low. There is also a possibility that as he grows, we may stop the medicine altogether,” said Dr Goyal.

The family that belongs to Patan district in Gujarat, looks forward to celebrating rakhi together on Monday.

“All three of our kids are through IVF; the elder one is a daughter who was born in 2014. The twin boys were born last year. Now that Nidish is good to go home, our daughter is excited about celebrating rakhi,” says Viral Vyas, the father who donated a part of his liver for the transplant.