Two Delhi women gave a fresh lease of life to each other's husbands, who were suffering from "end-stage liver disease", through a swap transplant, doctors said on April 17.




As part of the swap transplant, the two women gave portions of their livers to each other's husbands, they said. Both the transplants were performed simultaneously within a span of 12 hours at Max Hospital, Saket. A "living donor liver transplant" allows a living person to donate a section of their liver, which grows or regenerates to full size in the recipient (and the donor), the doctors said.

"The two patients from Delhi hail from different walks of life. Both patients are 45 years old, had been suffering from end-stage liver disease for more than six months and were in desperate need of a liver transplant in order to survive," the hospital said in a statement.

The wives of the patients wanted to become the donors for them but the blood groups of the partners were "mutually incompatible", it said. According to the statement, one patient's blood group is 'B', his wife is 'A'. On the other hand, the second patient's blood group is 'A' and his wife's is 'B'.

"After a detailed medical evaluation, including psychological assessment of both the donors and recipients, the couples were found to be ideal candidates for paired exchanged live donor liver transplants," the hospital said. There are two ways of sourcing a liver for a transplant -- either from a cadaver or from a close relative, which is a challenge due to the growing concept of nuclear families in urban cities, the statement said. Both the couples are now under close follow up and are doing well, the hospital said.