THE SMILE IS BACK: Dynaneshwar Prabhakar Bhamare and his wife Bhavana Dynaneshwar at a press conference at Narayana Hrudayalaya in Bangalore on Saturday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: The long wait for Dyaneshwar Prabhakar Bhamare to cure his liver disease that had not been diagnosed properly is over.

For, this 32-year-old software engineer will walk out of Narayana Hrudayalaya, putting his misery behind after a successful liver transplantation.

Mr. Bhamare, who has suffered from the hepatic veins clot since 2004, underwent a crucial transplantation surgery here on April 20 with his wife Bhavana donating 65 per cent of her liver to save his life.

It took over 17 hours for a team of doctors led by surgeon Sanjay Govil to complete the procedure.

Cost

The surgery, which would have cost Rs. 45 lakh in the U.S., was done for Rs. 7 lakh here.

Speaking to presspersons here on Thursday, Mr. Bhamare said, "I was given only one year to live and my wife's sacrifice has saved me. I went to the U.S. for further treatment after I was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver and doctors were unable to diagnose the cause. It was in Narayana Hrudayalaya that doctors discovered the clots in the hepatic veins and suggested transplantation."

Support

His family, friends and employers, (L&T Infotech), stood by him.

Ms. Bhavana, who donated a major chunk of her liver, said, "My decision was immediate as my priority was to save my husband's life."

According to Dr. Govil, Mr. Bhamare had been ill since 2004 when he began to suffer a gradual and progressive accumulation of fluid in his abdomen due to a failing liver. At the time of the surgery, he had accumulated 20 litres of fluid, which constituted 30 per cent of the total body weight.

Adding to his complication, Mr. Bhamare developed jaundice, infections in the abdominal fluids, renal dysfunction and a bleeding tendency.

Operative risk

Dr. Govil said, "Living donor liver transplantation has become a possibility due to increasing safety of liver surgery. The operative risk for living donors is only 0.2 to 0.5 per cent, and blood transfusion is rarely required. A person can survive with only 25 per cent of normal functioning liver and it grows back to normal size in a few weeks."

In Ms. Bhavana's case, he said, her remnant liver will grow back to full size in a few weeks, as will the graft she has donated to her husband. The hospital has performed eight living donor transplants so far and more than 20 liver resections for a variety of diseases with minimal morbidity.

Medication

Mr. Bhamare will require immuno-suppressive medication for the rest of his life to prevent his body from rejecting his new liver.

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