Small Intestine transplant may be considered for people suffering with intestinal failure. This may occur either due to massive resection of small intestine or due to inadequate absorption of nutrients due to various medical reasons. This may specially be needed for patients who present with complications from receiving intra venous nutrition also called parenteral nutrition, or in situations when PN is not possible. A 34-year-old man from Pune suffered from gangrene of entire small intestine which had to be surgically removed. The patient had difficulty in maintaining his health and nutrition and required support in the form intra venous nutrition as his body was unable to absorb nutrients from the diet. He suffered from malnutrition, weight loss, diarrhea leading to frequent hospital admissions. Before the transplant his nutrition was supported by parenteral nutrition(PN) through a catheter inserted into his neck vein. The patient waited for a period of 6 months before he could get a suitable donor.

During this period, the patient had lost 40 Kgs and was in dire need of a small intestine transplant to lead a normal life.

Finally, the young man underwent small intestine transplant at Jupiter Hospital, Pune. It is the only hospital in Maharashtra that has successfully performed small intestinal transplants so far. The patient underwent successful transplant where he received entire small intestine measuring around 400 cm from a young cadaveric donor.

Speaking about the surgery, Dr Chaubal from Jupiter Hospital said that, “finding right donors for bowel transplant is a major challenge and they need to be screened and selected with utmost care as the success of the transplant depends heavily on donor selection.” Additionally, the donors have to be young individuals who are very stable after brain death. Long term survival post-transplant is 75 to 80 % and patients need 3 to 4 weeks to recover post-surgery.

The surgery was performed successfully by the team led by Dr Gaurav Chaubal, who is the chief multi organ transplant surgeon at Jupiter Hospital. This transplant helped the patient regain ability to digest food and return to normalcy.