Donating Cells: What’s the risk?
If you are the bone marrow donor, you might feel tired and lethargic after donating the cells. However you will return to normalcy in a few days or sometimes, in a few weeks. As it is a procedure done under anaesthesia, you might need to do all relevant health checks before donating.
Aphersis, however is easier, except for occasional giddiness, headache and some discomfort caused mainly due to the medicines given for increasing stem cells.
What is the Post-surgery care?
Post-surgery care is extremely crucial and you have to take up the responsibility of your own health and wellbeing.
Make sure you take your medications on time. And remember that these medications must be taken for life.
Exercise - we encourage heart transplant recipients to increase physical activity to improve the functions of the heart and avoid weight gain. However, you’ll need to take the advice of your Cardiologist and Rehabilitation Therapist before you start on your regime.
We’ll give you specific instructions on what you should eat and what you should not. A low-fat, low-sodium diet will decrease the risk of heart diseases, high blood pressure and fluid retention.
Remember, how you recover, how well you recover and how quickly you recover depend on many factors including your age, general health and your response to the transplant.
Patients, especially children will need to be monitored all their life to ensure nothing is wrong. Fortunately, according to worldwide statistics, almost 85% heart transplant recipients get back to their normal life within a reasonable time.
The most important of all are regular check-ups. Missing even one means you are neglecting your health. So visit your doctor at regular intervals, get your investigations done on time and lead a healthy lifestyle. It’s a second chance at life, make sure you live it well.
What Is Interventional Radiology?
A medical subspeciality of Radiology that plays a vital role in both emergency and elective care, Interventional Radiology (IR) is the minimally invasive, image-guided treatment of certain diseases/ conditions that may otherwise require an open surgery.
IR procedures are performed with the help of advanced imaging modalities like MRI, CT and ultrasound scans, in cath labs/ sterile operation theatre environments. The interventional radiologist can see the inside of the body and treat complex conditions ranging from brain aneurysms to cancers, through very small incisions (2-3mm in 90% cases), with unmatched precision and speed.
Do Genetic reasons cause obesity?
Genetic predisposition is one of the reasons for obesity, it is a well-known and currently proven fact. Around 43% of the general population is susceptible to become obese due to genetic factors.
What causes liver cancer?
In some scenarios the cause of liver cancer is identified, for instance chronic hepatitis infection damages the DNA in the liver cells and cause liver cancer. Sometimes liver cancer occurs in patients with no underlying health conditions and it's not clear what causes it.
What is cadaveric transplant?
When the organ for transplantation is obtained from a deceased or brain-dead donor, it is called cadaveric transplant.
What does your liver do?
Produces blood proteins that help your immune system function well, carry oxygen and enable clotting
Stores and releases nutrients to your bloodstream
Produces bile – the enzyme that helps help digest food
Breaks down saturated fat and produces cholesterol out of it
Stores glucose in the form of glycogen
Keeps your body free from toxins.
What are the different types of alcohol-related liver diseases?
The three major liver diseases induced by alcohol are alcoholic fatty liver disease, alcoholic hepatitis and alcoholic cirrhosis.
Alcoholic Fatty Liver
Excess alcohol consumption leads to accumulation of extra fat in your liver.
The first stage of alcohol-related liver disease, this condition usually goes unnoticed as there might be no symptoms at all. However, some patients do present symptoms like unexplained fatigue and weakness. The fat accumulation in the liver will mostly go away by itself if you stop drinking alcohol at this stage. Those who are overweight and have diabetes will need to be extremely careful, for the risk of permanent liver damage is way higher in them.
Alcoholic Hepatitis
This is a condition that causes the liver to swell, in turn damaging it. The symptoms of alcoholic hepatitis include loss of appetite, vomiting, abdominal pain, fever and jaundice. It is estimated that one out of every three heavy drinkers develops alcoholic hepatitis.Alcoholic hepatitis can either be mild or severe. Mild liver damage can be reversed; all you need is to quit drinking. However, if one continues to consume alcohol despite having mild alcoholic hepatitis, the liver will slowly start becoming dysfunctional. According to reports, more than 50% of patients with severe alcoholic hepatitis do not survive.
Alcoholic Cirrhosis
Alcoholic cirrhosis is permanent scarring of liver caused due to excess alcohol consumption. A life-threatening condition and the most serious alcohol-related disease, the liver fails to function normally as healthy liver tissue gets replaced with scar tissue. The damage caused to the liver is usually irreversible.
Though stopping alcohol consumption may help prevent further damage, related complications are not curable.
In addition to the symptoms of alcoholic hepatitis the patient may develop severe bouts of jaundice, vomit blood, suffer from fluid accumulation in the abdomen and feet, get mentally disoriented or worse, slip into coma.
Estimates say that almost 20% of heavy drinkersdevelop liver cirrhosis.
When does one need a liver transplant?
If the liver gets irreparably damaged and cannot be managed medically anymore, your doctor might recommend a liver transplant, depending on your health condition.
What is liver transplant?
Liver transplant, put simply, is the process of replacing the diseased liver with a donated, healthy liver An extremely advanced procedure, it banks heavily on the expertise and experience of the transplant team and of course, high-end medical technology, transplant team and of course, high-end medical technology. There are two types of liver transplant: living donor transplant and cadaveric donor (deceased donor) transplant.
When a healthy person donates part of his or her liver for transplantation, it is called living donor transplant. Living donor liver transplant has its advantages. If someone, preferably a family member is willing to donate part of their liver and the blood type matches, there is no need to wait.
The liver regenerates itself and will grow to its normal size in both the donor and the recipient in 6-8 weeks.
In case there is no live donor available, then one has to wait for cadaveric organ transplant (the liver of a donor who is brain-dead)..In some cases, one donor liver can be transplanted in two people. This is called Split Liver Transplantation.
Worldwide, the success rate of liver transplant- both live and cadaveric - is quite high.
Patients undergoing liver transplantation can expect a success rate of over 90%. We also perform pancreas transplant , which in most cases, is carried out simultaneously with a kidney transplant.