In Assam, 600 liver transplants needed every year

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, Sept 26: Nearly 600 people need liver transplants every year in Assam, a senior surgeon said today, adding that most patients needing transplant have hepatitis B or C and alcoholic liver disease. Chief liver transplant surgeon of Medanta Institute of Liver Transplantation Dr AS Soin said nearly 2 lakh people die every year in the country from termil liver disease and cancer. "Of them, at least 25,000 can be saved through liver transplants," he told a semir here.

Explaining the devastating effects of alcohol on the human body, Dr Soin said nearly 20 per cent of liver failures were due to alcohol consumption and women are more prone to liver damage for drinking alcohol than men.

"Drinking as little as two pegs of whisky a day for ten years can actually lead to termil liver cirrhosis," he said.

He said that sedentary lifestyle, diabetes high cholesterol and obesity predispose to fatty liver disease and around 20 per cent of patients with fatty liver eventually develop cirrhosis if proper treatment is not taken. "Another difficult and challenging group of patients are those who develop sudden liver failure over just a few days, which is fatal unless an emergency liver transplant is carried out," he said.

Liver transplants in children may cost up to Rs 15 lakh while those in adults around Rs 20 lakh.