Two-Year-Old Gets New Lease Of Life By Successful Liver Surgery At Mumbai Hospital
During the ex-situ liver auto-transplant procedure, the entire liver was taken out from the child's body, resected and reimplanted.
Published : January 20, 2026 at 7:52 PM IST
Mumbai: Doctors at Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children in Mumbai's Parel saved a two-year-old girl by performing a successful complex liver surgery.
The child, Afsa, developed a swelling in her abdomen, prompting her mother to take her to doctors and she was diagnosed with hepatoblastoma, an advanced liver cancer. The cancer had spread so extensively that it had reached major blood vessels in and around the liver. In this situation, conventional surgery was not possible.
However, doctors at Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children in Parel did not give up. They successfully performed an 'ex-situ liver auto-transplant', an extremely rare and complex surgery for removing the tumour by taking the entire liver out, resecting it and then reimplanting the cleaned liver back into the patient.
The doctors claimed the procedure, performed on a child for the first time in India, gave Afsa a new lease of life. They said this rare disease is found in young children, but in Afsa's case, it was in a very serious stage as the tumour was located right in the middle of her liver and had spread to the surrounding major blood vessels. Initially, chemotherapy was administered, which slightly reduced the size of the tumour, but conventional surgery was extremely dangerous.
A liver transplant was a good option, but finding a donor in such a short time was impossible. The most serious problem was that the tumour had almost completely blocked the blood flow in the liver so doctors had no other option but to remove the entire liver, work on it outside the body, and then re-implant it. So, 'ex-situ liver auto-transplant' was chosen, and successfully performed.
"To put it simply, Afsa's entire liver was removed from her body and kept safe at a low temperature for 4.5 hours. During this, doctors removed 70 to 80 percent of the cancerous part of the liver, repaired the blood vessels, and re-implanted the remaining healthy part back into her body. In other words, Afsa's own healthy liver was transplanted back into her," explained Dr Pragya Bendre, pediatric surgeon at Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children.
The entire surgery lasted for around five hours. A team of doctors, led by liver transplant surgeon at Wadia Hospital Dr Abhishek Mathur and comprising pediatric surgeons, liver transplant specialists, anesthesiologists, radiologists, pathologists, and the ICU team, was involved in the surgery.
Doctors used a special 'hypothermic machine' for the surgery. "This machine ensured that the liver continued to receive blood supply even while outside the body, preventing complications during the surgery. This machine was provided free of cost by a Chennai-based company, which also reduced the financial burden on Afsa's family," said Dr Mathur, who was assisted by Prof. Darius Mirza, Dr. Pragya Bendre, Dr. Shailesh Sable, Dr. Gayatri Munghate, and Dr. Saurin Dani.
"Just a week after the surgery, Afsa was shifted from the ICU to the general ward, and she was discharged home in a few days. She is currently doing well, smiling and playing," said Dr Bendre.
Afsa's father, Saddam Hussein Sheikh, said, "When we took Afsa to the hospital we were told that her condition was very serious and she would need surgery. Since surgery was our last hope we agreed. Today, seeing our daughter smiling feels like a miracle.".
According to doctors, Afsa's surgery is a historic achievement in the medical field in India. They said this method could be a lifesaver for many children suffering from similar serious illnesses.
Also Read
