LAHORE: The Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Centre (PKLI&RC) has established an astounding international benchmark in transplant surgery. A specially-trained team comprising 120 members managed to conduct 10 liver transplants in only 23 hours and 20 minutes, and the Guinness World Records has asked for documentation of the same in order to verify it.
A record submission has been made by the institution through its website, along with complete visual proof of the accomplishment. The Guinness officials have asked for medical documents and stated that they will send a verification team.
A Landmark Breakthrough in Surgical Innovation
During a press briefing on Wednesday, Dr. Prof. Faisal Saud Dar, Dean of PKLI&RC, highlighted the technical complexity of the achievement. The multidisciplinary team comprising transplant surgeons, hepatologists, pediatricians, anesthetists, and specialized nursing staff executed seven domino liver transplants and eight Auxiliary Partial Orthotopic Liver Transplants (APOLT) within the record-breaking window.
“We achieved a landmark breakthrough in transplantation medicine,” Prof. Dar stated. “This novel clinical approach expands organ utilization and advances the treatment of rare metabolic diseases.”
By utilizing three donor organs, the team provided life-saving procedures to nine children and one adult. Prof. Dar emphasized that all ten patients successfully recovered and have since returned home to their families.
Pioneering Techniques for Organ Scarcity
The surgical success centered on the integration of two sophisticated medical strategies:
- Domino Liver Transplantation: A sequential procedure where a donor liver passes to a recipient, while the recipient’s healthy liver moves to a second patient.
- APOLT: A complex surgery involving the implantation of a partial donor liver alongside a portion of the patient’s native organ.
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According to Prof. Dar, the creation is a “metabolic chimera,” an approach that blends surgical expertise with prudent organ management. This approach allows physicians to use one organ from one donor for more than one recipient, and thus presents an efficient means of addressing the issue of organ shortage in the world.
Mian Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman, Punjab Provincial Minister of Finance was present during the press conference to congratulate the researchers. He noted that this achievement positions PKLI&RC as a premier regional hub for medical innovation and advanced clinical care.
Prof. Saeed Akhtar, Chairman of the PKLI&RC Board of Governors, reaffirmed the institution’s ongoing commitment to high-stakes medicine. The institute has, since its inception, managed to perform numerous intricate procedures, successfully transplanting 1,175 livers, 1,276 kidneys, and 19 cases of bone marrow transplant for patients from all over Pakistan and beyond its boundaries.
As Guinness World Records studies these figures, the medical fraternity sees this accomplishment as an important step toward the treatment of genetically and metabolically uncommon diseases.
