Success rate low, patients seek liver swaps outside city

The success rate of liver transplants in Mumbai is about 50%, significantly lower than the 80% and 90% success rates in Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad, say city doctors.

The success rate of liver transplants in Mumbai is about 50%, significantly lower than the 80% and 90% success rates in Delhi, Chennai and Hyderabad, say city doctors.

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This is perhaps one reason why former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh chose to travel to Chennai for a possible liver transplant when he suffered multiple organ failure last week. This, despite the fact that the country’s first successful liver transplant was conducted at Mumbai’s Jaslok Hospital, in 1998. City doctors say they were not surprised by Deshmukh’s decision. “The liver transplant success rate in Mumbai is about 50%, which is not very good,” said Dr Pravin Shingare, joint director at the Directorate of Medical Education and Research.

In a 2010 liver transplant at KEM Hospital, Parel, for instance, both donor and recipient died after the surgery. “In two years, we have had six patients, of whom three have survived,” said Dr Chetan Kantharia, who heads the programme at KEM.

One reason for the Chennai programme’s success is the large number of cadaver donations in Tamil Nadu. Since 2008, more than 1,270 organs and tissue samples have been donated in that state, against just 300 organ donations in Mumbai in 15 years.

Since 2006, Jaslok Hospital has conducted about 34 liver transplants. By contrast, Delhi’s Apollo Hospital conducts about 300 liver transplants annually, and Global Hospital in Chennai, conducts about 150.