Bhubaneswar: A city-based SUM Ultimate Medicare in Odisha successfully treated a 9-year-old girl with severe liver failure using plasma exchange, also known as liver dialysis, when liver transplantation was not an option.
The girl was brought to the hospital recently complaining of jaundice caused by a viral infection and got admitted under the care of the care of Dr Ayaskanta Singh, senior consultant and head of the department of gastroenterology in the hospital, news agency UNI reported.
The patient was subsequently shifted to the NICU under Dr Pradip Kumar Dey, Head of the Department of Paediatrics and Neonatology, as her condition deteriorated.
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As the patient was experiencing respiratory distress, it was decided by the team of doctors to go for plasma exchange, also known as liver dialysis, as the liver transplantation option was not available.
According to the UNI report, “This process is not generally attempted in the case of children,” Dr Gadadhar Panda, Associate Consultant in the Department of Gastroenterology, who was leading the procedure, said on Tuesday.
“The death rate in such cases is close to 90 per cent,” Dr. Dey said.
Dr Sambit Bhuyan, Associate Consultant in the Gastroenterology Department, said the procedure was conducted on the patient after explaining the risk factor and benefit to the parents.
Dr. Singh described plasma exchange as a rare procedure.
After four cycles of the procedure supported by medical management, the patient became conscious, and her liver was functioning much better.
She was subsequently discharged from the hospital in a stable condition. She was able to consume normal food, Dr. Panda said.
Mohammed Nasim, the father of the patient, said that though he had taken his ailing daughter to several hospitals, she was not provided with the required treatment. Her problem was properly diagnosed and treated at SUMUM, leading to her recovery, he said, adds UNI.
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