Zydus Hospital in Ahmedabad Crosses Milestone of 300 Liver Transplants

Zydus Hospital in Ahmedabad has announced a major clinical milestone, crossing 300 liver transplants, which marks the highest count in the state of Gujarat. The achievement highlights the institution's capability in managing complex liver conditions amid a rising national disease burden.

Healthcare professionals point out that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has grown rapidly due to sedentary lifestyles, lack of exercise, and processed food consumption. Affecting approximately one in four adults, untreated NAFLD can progress to inflammation, scarring, cirrhosis, or liver cancer. This rising incidence intersects with a severe shortage of specialized treatment facilities and donor organs.

Addressing these challenges requires multidisciplinary medical teams. Zydus Hospital's liver transplant programme involves close coordination among liver transplant surgeons, critical care specialists, anaesthetists, hepatologists, gastroenterologists, and nephrologists for simultaneous liver-kidney transplant (SLKT) cases. The team has handled living donor and deceased donor transplants, ABO-incompatible procedures, paediatric cases, planned surgeries for chronic liver disease, and emergency interventions for acute liver failure.

According to Dr. Anand Khakhar, liver transplant and HPB surgeon, approximately 40% of patients arrive with acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) requiring intervention within 24 to 36 hours. The hospital's infrastructure, including modular operation theatres, dedicated liver ICUs, and advanced imaging facilities, supports these critical procedures.

Medical specialists also note that conditions like lean non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) can affect individuals of normal weight, storing harmful visceral fat around the liver and complicating nutritional recovery. Additionally, the hospital has managed complex dual procedures, such as simultaneous liver and kidney transplants in patients with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), which demand high-order cognitive collaboration across specialties.

With living donors accounting for roughly 80% of cases in South-east Asia, surgeons at Zydus Hospital emphasize donor safety as a primary operational goal, alongside community outreach to raise awareness about organ donation utilizing the liver's regenerative capacity.

"Reaching a milestone of 300 liver transplants reflects the critical role that specialized healthcare infrastructure and multidisciplinary clinical teams play in addressing severe medical challenges in India. As lifestyle-related conditions such as NAFLD place a growing burden on healthcare systems, institutional readiness, advanced surgical capabilities, and robust patient care protocols are essential for scaling successful outcomes in complex medical procedures." — Dr. Shishir Gupta, Founder & CEO, StartupLanes