CHENNAI: The MIOT international hospital in Chennai has performed a successful liver transplantation to a patient with rare blood type.

A 55-year-old resident of Maldives with a liver problem has a rare blood type among Asians, anti-kidd jk (b) antibody negative blood, which can damage the red blood cells and lead to serious complications.

Overcoming the hurdles and complications, MIOT doctors performed the transplantation, in coordination with transfusion medicine specialists and liver transplant surgeons. “What’s more complicated is that this kind of blood group is very difficult to detect in routine blood-cross matches. If undetected, it would be fatal,” said MIOT. “However, our experts found out the rare type and arranged the surgery. Considering the patient’s condition, it was essential to perform the surgery with minimal blood loss.”

Using advanced technology, the blood coagulation was assessed and managed in real time, and the surgery was performed by experts by transfusing only three units of blood, added the hospital.