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UAE, Pakistan kids get new lease of life in India

New Delhi - The two patients, both suffering from a rare disease, could not get treatment in their home countries.

A child each from Pakistan and the UAE suffering from a rare disease got a new lease of life after undergoing liver transplant, doctors said.

The two were suffering from Crigler Najjar Syndrome, in which GT enzyme in the liver is absent from birth.

According to the doctors, 13-year-old Khalid Mohammed from the UAE and four-year-old Abdul Ahad from Pakistan could not be treated in their home countries.

The children were admitted to the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital. The condition of both the patients was serious and doctors at the hospital had found out that only liver transplant could cure them.

Medical science says Crigler Najjar Syndrome deficiency results in toxic form of bilirubin to rise in the blood to a very high level, which can cross into the brain and produce irreversible complications.

To prevent brain damage and hearing loss from this condition phototherapy (treatment by the use of special light) is needed for 14 to 16 hours a day.

Khalid Mohammed received a part of his father's liver and Ahad got 30 per cent of his mother's liver. After the liver transplant, there was no need for phototherapy as the new liver had the GT enzyme.

"With the new liver both children have received the enzyme they were not born with and their eyes are pearly white. They have finally bid adieu to their constant companion - the phototherapy unit," said Anupam Sibal, Group Medical Director, Apollo Hospitals.