Dr. Pathik Parikh Hepatologist and Liver Transplant Physician

What is hepatitis? Inflammation of liver is usually referred as hepatitis. Infection or non-infectious causes – Infectious is mainly by virus. What is viral hepatitis? Hepatitis is caused by the hepatotrophic viruses A, B, C, D and E. D is not a concern in India How are these viruses different? A and E are spread from unhygienic food practices A is seen usually before 25 years of age and is most common cause of liver failure in children E is mainly seen in adults. E in pregnancy is dangerous causing 20-25% mortality A & E virus infections are self-limiting and immunity is life long B & C are spread by unsafe sexual practices and by contact with infected blood Tattoo, razors, toothbrushes, dental extractions are also risk factors They cause chronicity and can cause permanent liver damage What are the symptoms? A, E and rarely B present acutely with jaundice, fever, malaise, bodyache, anorexia, nausea C and most of the time B is chronic

Over the last 50 years, transplantation has advanced dramatically and with each passing day the number of individual waiting for a transplant keep on rising exponentially. The gap between the available organs and the numbers needed has been widening. Though this gap is present for all available organs in each of the transplant centers of the world, there is a significant difference between the patterns of donation between different countries. A rough estimate of the need for Liver Transplant in India is 15000-20000 per year and the current number fulfills only 10% of the requirement. Against a requirement of 1 to 2 Lakh kidneys, only about 7000 transplantations are being done annually. Types of deceased organ donations There are three forms of established organ donations which form the source of organs for transplantation; donation after brain death (DBD), donation after cardiac death (DCD) and live related donation. Brain death is defined as the irreversible loss of all fun