An Indian family found out their little girl, Parvathy, only three months old, had primary hyperoxaluria type 1.
In simple terms, those words meant she was born without the enzyme AGXT in the liver. A deficiency of that enzyme spikes blood oxalate levels. This causes damage in the kidneys. The damage created is permanent, and doctors decided the only option for Parvathy was a liver and kidney transplant.
However, before surgery, she had to achieve the 10-kilogram weight requirement for transplantation. Unfortunately, she never did. Doctors searched for solutions. An adult kidney would not fit in the body of a child that small, and both the donors of the liver and the kidney were adults: Her father and grandmother.
Ultimately, surgeons figured out a solution you can read about here!
At the time of procedure Parvathy was 2 years old and weighed seven kilograms. It was the first time a dual live-donor transplant surgery was completed in such a young and small patient.
The surgery… or should we say, the three surgeries lasted 20 hours. The father, child, and grandmother were all operated on in that time frame.
And all three were a success! Thanks to the innovative doctors who thought outside the box when faced with such a rare challenge.
For several days following the surgery, the child stayed in the hospital to be monitored. Parvathy began to gain weight (she’s now more than ten kg), and it’s said she “recovered well.”
This surgery’s success is momentous. As technology and scientific capabilities increase, there’s no telling what other outstanding accomplishments will come for primary hyperoxaluria type 1 patients and the entire rare community.
