A nine-year-old boy from Kazakhstan got a fresh lease of life with India's first living donor intestine transplant, conducted after a complex 14-hour surgery at the Global Hospital, officials said here on Friday.

A team of Dr. Gaurav Chaubal operated on the boy who was diagnosed with Midgut volvulus in October 2022, followed by resection of both small and large intestines leading to short bowel syndrome on parenteral nutrition.

The boy, Bekarys Zhumabek's intestines were twisted upon themselves and the medical team decided to surgically cut out (resection) a part of the small intestine along with the appendix

It led to complications and he was taken up for another surgery where a significant portion of the small intestine and a part of the large intestine was removed, leading to a condition called Short Gut Syndrome.

He was put on total parenteral nutrition since then and started losing weight with high liquid (stoma) output, and since all other treatment options were exhausted in his country, he was referred to Global Hospital here in December.

Senior Consultant Paediatric Gastroenterologist Dr. Lalit Verma counselled the family on Living Donor Intestine Transplant and his maternal uncle came forward to donate the organ.

All necessary statutory formalities were completed, and after the relevant pre-surgery tests, the boy finally underwent the transplant on January 30.

Dr. Chaubal, who is Director - Liver, Pancreas, Intestine Transplant Programme at the Global Hospitals, said the case of Bekarys was extremely complex, he was very malnourished along with multiple infections when he was brought here.

Since he was a kid and the doctors wanted to avoid him being subjected to frequent surgeries, Dr. Nilesh Satbhai, Senior Consultant, Plastic Surgery decided to implant a free flap graft from the uncle's thigh to the boy's thigh.

This remote free flap graft allows for non-invasive remote monitoring of early rejection, and has been attempted for the first time in a living donor transplant in India, said Dr. Satbhai.

Post-surgery, the boy was shifted to the ICU where he is recovering well, he is taken off TPN and now eating well orally.

The patient's family, especially his mother Shynargul Nassipkaliyeva, are delighted to see the boy returning to normalcy and even eating properly now.

Dr. Chaubal said that till date, 24 transplants have been done in India including 4 living donors and rest deceased donors and in 2022, all the 3 intestinal transplants done in the country were at Global Hospitals, as per the NOTTO data.

As part of the 'Heal in India' mission, the hospital has set up a Living Donor Intestine Transplant programme, and Bekarys' surgery has along with the Sentinel Graft procedure, has raised the bar further, as the boy return to normalcy, said IHH Healthcare India COO, Dr. Vivek Talaulikar.

(SJ/IANS)