Andhra girl recovers from rare disease after 8-hour long liver transplant

Following her recovery, she is now ready to return to her village. Besides, the hospital also decided to adopt the girl for the next three years for her post-transplant treatment with help from donors, who contributed for her surgery. 

Aisha, the child from Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh, had been suffering from liver cirrhosis due to Wilson’s disease – a rare inherited disorder that causes copper to accumulate in one’s liver, brain and other vital organs –  for which the only cure was a liver transplant. 

Doctors performed an eight-hour long critical lifesaving transplant surgery on her following which all her liver function tests were found to be normal, doctors said. 

Wilson’s Disease causes copper poisoning in the body. In her case, the extra copper was retained by the liver which eventually led to organ’s failure. Dr Joy Varghese, Director, Hepatology and Transplant Hepatology Department at the Gleneagles Global Hospital where she was treated, said, “Liver transplant was the only viable option to save her from the life-threatening condition.”

As her parents could not afford the treatment, the hospital collected funds through social media to meet her medical expenses for transplant. “Considering her critical state and recent medical history of surviving after cardiac arrest, she was a high risk candidate for liver transplant. We decided to perform an urgent liver transplant surgery on her. She made an uneventful recovery,” said Dr Vij, Director-HPB and Transplant Surgery at the Hospital.