A five-month old baby girl from Kolkata has become India's youngest liver transplant patient, doctors at the Max Super Speciality Hospital said on April 9.

The baby now six-months old, was born healthy but at five-months of age she suffered from jaundice which led to her liver malfunctioning (elevated ammonia). She was admitted to the hospital with acute bleeding and was advised a liver transplant, where her mother donated a part of her liver.

In a 10-hour-long surgery, the doctors replaced the baby's malfunctioning liver with a modified liver from her mother to fit the baby. "In the baby's case, the transplant was required urgently as she was diagnosed with very severe liver failure and was in a critical state when she came to us. Our aim was to treat her at the earliest with a lifesaving surgery, ensuring her quality of life isn't impacted in the long run," Subhash Gupta, Chairman at the hospital's Centre for Liver and Biliary Sciences, told IANS.

"After the surgery, she will lead a normal life. She is the youngest Indian to undergo successful liver transplant," he added. Highlighting the complexity of the surgery, the doctors maintained that conducting a liver transplant surgery in a baby weighing less than 10 kilograms and less than one-year-old is a very complex procedure.

"In infants, the surgical complexity is immense and post transplant care is specialised, given their small size. Usually, an adult's liver weighs around 1.2 kg. The surgeons resected 182 grams of it and modified it to fit the baby's body size," Sharat Varma, Consultant at the hospital, told IANS. "Post transplant, she did well and showed rapid recovery. She went home within 22 days of surgery," Varma said.