In a landmark medical achievement for Kerala, a two-and-a-half-year-old child from Kollam has been given a new lease on life through a liver transplant. The child was suffering from a rare and life-threatening genetic condition known as propionic acidaemia.
What is Propionic Acidaemia?
Propionic acidaemia is a rare inherited metabolic disorder where the body lacks a crucial enzyme required to properly break down specific proteins and fats. This deficiency leads to a dangerous accumulation of toxic acids in the system, causing recurrent metabolic crises that can threaten neurological development and be fatal.
The Path to a Transplant Solution
Faced with these relentless health crises, the paediatric inborn errors of metabolism (IEM) team at the hospital concluded that a liver transplant was the best long-term solution. Dr Shiraz Ahmad Rather, consultant and head of multivisceral transplant at KIMS Health, explained that since the liver is central to this metabolic process, transplanting a healthy organ can restore the missing enzyme activity, effectively curing the metabolic aspect of the disease.
In a profound act of love, the child's mother stepped forward as a living donor, offering a portion of her own liver to save her son.
A Successful Surgery and Historic Milestone
The complex surgery, which lasted approximately eight hours, was a success. Following the procedure, the child showed steady progress as the transplanted liver began functioning immediately, replenishing the vital enzyme and protecting the young patient from further metabolic and neurological damage.
This procedure marks the first reported liver transplant for propionic acidaemia in the state of Kerala. Dr Shiraz Ahmad Rather confirmed the historic nature of this operation, highlighting it as a significant advancement in treating rare genetic metabolic disorders within the region.
The successful transplant offers hope to other families dealing with similar rare conditions, demonstrating the viability of living donor liver transplants as a curative treatment for certain metabolic diseases.
