How two couples swapped their livers to battle end-stage disease together

Two women provided a new lease on life to each others husbands by donating a part of their livers Their husbands were struggling with endstage liver disease who underwent a 10hour simultaneous transplant procedure that saved the lives of both patientsThe 61yearold gentleman Mr Ramdas Chavan hailing from Amravati suffering from diabetes hypertension hypothyroidism interstitial lung disease struggling with ascites buildup and hepatitis C that led to endstage liver disease liver failure couldnrsquot perform his daily activities with easeAlso Read How coil emissions from mosquito repellents are linked to lung diseasesSimilarly another gentleman Mr Dinesh Sarode a 41yearold was struggling with a history of hepatitis B leading to liver failure The two individuals from Akola came from diverse backgrounds were battling endstage liver disease and had been waiting for a transplant for 1 yearTheir wives were eager to donate part of their livers but following a thorough recipient and donor evaluation their partners blood types did not match making their wives incompatible for the transplants shares Dr Gaurav Chaubal Director of Liver Pancreas Intestine Transplant Program and HPB Surgery Global Hospitals ParelUpon conducting further tests it was decided that the couples were ideal for a swap transplant A swap transplant happens when the first patientrsquos close family member donates their organs a kidney or part of the liver to the second patient in needIn return the second patientrsquos relatives donate their organs to the first patient Patient Ramdas Chavans wife donated a portion of her liver to Dinesh Shinde while patient Dineshs wife donated her liver to patient Ramdas The two transplants were carried out concurrently for 10 hours on two donors and two recipients The recipients were discharged in 14 days while the donor in 7 daysA team led by Chaubal mentored by Dr Samir Shah Director of Liver Disease HPB Surgery amp Transplant and Dr Uday Sanglodkar Senior Consultant Hepatologist and Clinical lead liver and transplant ICU Global Hospitals Parel have successfully conducted a swap liver transplant Sanglodkar added The first patient owned the Ablood group while the second one belonged to blood group B None of them had the same blood group in the family Due to advances in liver transplants a swap transplant is possible now A swap transplant means a blood group that is not available in the family can be taken from the other family Both the patients were critically ill and required frequent hospitalisations We successfully did two liver transplants in a day at the same time Both patients had a straightforward postoperative course after the transplantrdquoThere is always a scarcity of eligible donors in liver transplantation causing mortality in patients with advanced liver disease Swap transplantation is an excellent way to add to the donor pool and benefit more patients remarked Said Dr Ameet Mandot HOD Clinical lead of Adult Hepatology and Liver transplantBoth the couples expressed gratitude to Chaubal and his team for the lifesaving timely intervention and have resumed their normal lives happily Both have thanked each otherrsquos families for the transforming act of organ donation