At 68, Thangavelu Chandra Mohan knew that a liver transplant would be risky. However, living with his disease had become difficult too.
Mohan’s condition steadily worsened since he was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis in 2011. Simple activities such as walking left him exhausted, and he had become increasingly dependent on his family.
By the time he reached Burjeel Medical City in Abu Dhabi, doctors found several complications. His liver was functioning poorly, fluid repeatedly accumulated in his abdomen, and he had suffered internal bleeding. Blood clots had also blocked major vessels carrying blood to the liver, while his low platelet count increased the risk of severe bleeding during surgery.
“So many thoughts crossed my mind before the surgery. I am almost 70, and I knew the risks,” said Thangavelu. “I was afraid, but I had to be brave.”
Doctors eventually performed a four-hour transplant using a liver from a deceased donor. When he woke up, his thoughts were very different.
“I am alive. I have been given another chance.”
Thangavelu’s journey is one of several transplant stories showing how patients in the UAE are being offered another option when serious illness leaves them with few alternatives.
More than 1,195 organ transplant procedures have been carried out under the UAE’s National Program for Donation and Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues, known as Hayat, while more than 39,000 people have registered as donors, according to the Ministry of Health and Prevention.
Patient travels to Sharjah for kidney transplant
In another recent case, an international patient travelled to the UAE specifically for a living-donor kidney transplant at Medcare Hospital Sharjah.
The kidney was removed from the donor using robotic surgery, a minimally invasive approach aimed at improving donor recovery and reducing scarring.
The donor and recipient underwent detailed assessments before surgery to check compatibility and safety. A multidisciplinary team involving transplant surgeons, nephrologists, anaesthesiologists and critical-care specialists carried out the procedure.
Both the donor and recipient have since been discharged and are continuing follow-up care. The transplant was also the first performed under Medcare Hospital Sharjah’s newly established transplant programme.
Dr Gourab Sen, director of the Hepatobiliary Unit and Transplant Services at the hospital, said that transplantation begins well before the operation and continues throughout the recipient’s life, requiring careful assessment and long-term monitoring.
Different journeys to a transplant
Other cases show how different the path to transplantation can be. In one case, a domestic worker in the UAE received a liver from a brain-dead donor in Kuwait, requiring cross-border coordination and a race against time to get the organ to the patient.
At Burjeel Medical City, a 66-year-old woman with liver cirrhosis and liver cancer underwent the hospital’s first deceased-donor liver transplant after spending months waiting for a suitable organ. She had previously been called several times when organs became available, but they were not suitable matches.
At Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, a 40-year-old Jordanian cancer patient underwent a liver transplant after colorectal cancer repeatedly spread to his liver and other treatment options had become limited.
Taken together, the cases show how transplantation is being used in very different situations, from end-stage organ failure and complex vascular conditions to selected cancer cases.
They also show how organs can come through different routes, including living donors, deceased donors and cross-border coordination.
High-risk surgery
For Thangavelu, the transplant was difficult because of the clots blocking major blood vessels.
Doctors had to manage the risk of further clotting while also trying to prevent severe bleeding. During surgery, the team removed the clots and restored blood flow to the transplanted liver.
Dr Parthi Srinivasan, liver transplant surgeon at Burjeel Medical City, said that maintaining proper blood flow was critical for the new liver to function.
Thangavelu spent five days in intensive care before moving to the ward. He began physiotherapy and was discharged home after 10 days.
Doctors said that he is now stable, with normal liver and kidney function and no evidence of graft rejection.
More donors register
Marking World Organ Donation Day, Ahmed Ali Al Sayegh, Minister of Health and Prevention, said that the UAE ranks first in the GCC in the rate of growth in donor numbers and organ transplant procedures.
He said that Hayat has also become one of the fastest-growing programmes in the field globally and called on more members of the community to register as donors.
Source: Khaleej Times