Donating liver – don’t let the risks stop you

A donation is the most respectable thing in the world. When it comes to organ donation, you can become the god for someone’s family. By donating an organ, you not only save the life of a person but also reduces the problem faced by the patient’s family. These days living donations are also on the rise. Nowadays, living donors account for 60 percent of the donation. Living donation decreases the wait time and saves time.

Living Liver Donors
The most common living donors are of the liver. A liver from a living donor can initiate functioning daily. This will lead to better results post surgery. One should discuss the procedure, benefits, and risks involved in the procedure with the liver transplant surgeon know as Hepatobiliary surgeons.

Risks Involved With Donor
Although liver transplant is a surgery with minimal risks. But, no surgery is without the risks. There are risks associated with liver transplant as well. The knowledge about the risks allows us to reduce the risk involved in liver transplant surgery. It is on rare occasions that complexity arises with the donor of the liver in liver transplantation.

1. Bile Leakage
This occurs within a small percentage of living liver donors. A small hole in the bile duct can cause bile juice to leak into the abdominal cavity. It can result in a complication of a surgery like a gallbladder surgery or liver transplant. If this is the case, you should consult to a hepatologist. A doctor can place a tube in the liver to counter the leakage.

2. Infection
Sometimes, donating a liver can result in infections at the site of surgery. If something like this happens, you should be given appropriate care by the transplant team. This watch over is extremely important to reduce the health issues related to you.

3. Organ Damage
Unfortunately, in some rare cases, a living donor may result in death. This may also result in an organ damage and sometimes other complications.

4. Surgical Complications
There are possible surgical complications during the operation. Some of them may be an infection, blood loss, blood clot, injury to surrounding tissue, pneumonia etc.

Long-Term Risks
Some of the long-term risks related to donating a lobe of liver are-
• Wound infection
• Abdominal bleeding
• Reduction in bile duct
• Intestinal problems
• Blockages and tears

Stay in Hospital
A liver donor may require a week to get fully recovered from the procedure and hence, resulting in one week of stay in the hospital. The surgery requires only one day and the other six days are meant for recovery. However, if any complication may arise during the procedure, the time for the stay may increase depending on your health.

Benefits To Donor
Apart from the risks there are many advantages as well associated with donating a liver. Following are some of them-
• A donor saves the life of another person. This help in increase in confidence.
• The surgery can be scheduled depending on the availability of time.
• It may result in improved long-term outcomes.
• It will save the valuable time of the patients on the liver transplant list.
• It reduces the risk of morbidity.
A living liver donation can help up to 17000 people on the liver transplant list. The donors make a life-changing impact on the recipients. Your donation can save many lives. So, kindly donate!

To know more about your specific condition, please visit a Hepatobiliary Surgeon in a trusted hospital close to you.