Doctors at Fortis Healthcare, New Delhi have successfully conducted a laparoscopic surgery on a 23-year-old Iraqi woman who donated a part of her liver to her ailing son.

In a what is being claimed as a first in India, doctors at a Delhi hospital laparoscopically removed a part of the liver of a 23-year-old Iraqi woman, who donated the part to her ailing son after a 10-hour procedure. The procedure hepatectomy, a surgical resection (removal of all or part of the liver), is usually done in traditional open surgery. The woman's two-and-a-half-year-old son was suffering from a liver disease and as his condition deteriorated, she voluntarily donated a part of her liver.

In India, this is possibly the first case in which such minimally invasive technical procedure has been conducted for liver transplant, the hospital said. The recipient had a condition known as 'glycogen storage disease', a precursor to advanced liver disease and liver cirrhosis. The mother offered to donate a part of her liver and after a thorough examination a graft was retrieved from the left lateral segment of the donor.

The entire procedure took 10 hours, the hospital said. While using minimally invasive surgical techniques to conduct the surgery posed several difficulties, it also presented the patient with several advantages such as lesser pain, invisible scars. The recovery was smooth and uneventful with minimum hospital stay for the donor, Vivek Vij, director of liver transplant at Fortis Healthcare, said.

According to the World Health Organisation, liver diseases are the 10th most-common cause of death in India. Since the liver is a multi-function organ, it is susceptible to viruses, toxic substances, and contaminants present in food and water. People with liver problems often experience few or no symptoms. While there have been major advances in treating liver diseases, a complete cure is still elusive. The only way to manage a failed liver is to get a transplant. Liver transplantation is a treatment option for end-stage liver diseases and acute liver failure, although the availability of donor organs is a major limitation.