T’puram: Six-month-old Dhriya, who was born with a life-threatening liver disease, successfully recovered after undergoing a complex liver transplant surgery. Her liver transplant surgery assumed significance as she received the matching liver from the youngest donor in the state, Alin Sherin Abraham.The 10-month-old Alin, hailing from Mallappally, Pathanamthitta, was declared brain-dead following a tragic road accident. The surgery was performed on Dhriya on Feb 14. She now returned home after a month-long hospitalization. Dhriya, who was diagnosed with biliary atresia—a condition in which the ducts carrying bile from the liver fail to develop normally—battled serious health complications since birth. She earlier underwent a Kasai surgery at another hospital, a procedure that removes blocked bile ducts and creates a new pathway for bile drainage using a portion of the small intestine. However, the child later developed complications, including portal hypertension, refractory ascites and synthetic dysfunction. Following the deterioration in her condition, Dhriya was referred to KIMS Hospital, where doctors advised an urgent liver transplant as the only option to save her life. The surgery, which lasted about 12 hours, was led by Dr Shiraz Ahmad Rather, head of liver transplant surgery at the hospital. The rocedure was considered highly challenging due to the age of both the donor and the recipient. Doctors said the surgery was followed by an intensive post-operative phase that required continuous monitoring and coordinated efforts by a multidisciplinary team of intensivists, anaesthetists, nurses and transplant specialists.
