Chennai, 28 February 2025: Rela Hospital, a leading multispecialty hospital in the city, has opened Centre for Intestinal Rehabilitation and Nutrition Support, a first-of-its-kind facility in the country, to offer a comprehensive range of medical, surgical and nutritional therapies for rare intestinal failures and complex gastrointestinal disorders, with a particular focus on preterm babies who are not medically fit for intestinal transplants.

The centre has a multidisciplinary team, comprising expert surgeons, gastroenterologists, dietitians, and nursing specialists, to provide integrated care, essential for repair, regeneration, and elongation of intestines. This team led by Prof. Anil Vaidya Director - Multivisceral Organ Transplantation and Dr. Naresh Shanmugam Director - Women and Child Health & Senior Pediatric Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Rela Hospital includes 10 other experts. This team will provide end-to-end care for intestinal failure from extremely premature infants to adolescents. Intestinal failures refer to the condition when the intestines are not able to properly absorb the nutrient either due to genetic problems or due to removal of small intestines due to disease. These children would be dependent on total parenteral nutrition (nutrition through veins). The team will support both medically and surgically to rehabilitate (increase the absorption capacity) the intestine. This process might take several months and would require total parenteral nutrition. Home parenteral nutrition, a method of providing nutrients intravenously in the home setting, would be provided for stable children.

This centre addresses a range of intestinal failure and gastrointestinal conditions, including: Short Bowel Syndrome, marked by reduced intestinal function; Chronic Intestinal Pseudo-Obstruction, where the intestines fail to move food properly; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, characterised by chronic digestive tract inflammation; Hirschsprung Disease, causing severe constipation due to missing colon nerve cells; Omphalocele, the protrusion of abdominal organs at birth; Necrotising Enterocolitis, intestinal damage in premature infants; and volvulus, a dangerous intestinal twisting that cuts off blood supply.

It offers comprehensive care through a range of specialised services. Most of these infants / children would be really unwell requiring Neonatal/pediatric intensive care to stabilise and support. Oral feeding with special formulations, special feeding techniques for intestines to adopt along Parenteral Nutrition to provide adequate calories for their growth would be done by Gastroenterology and Nutrition team. Children who have never eaten anything by mouth from birth, will not know how to eat they require special support from department of communication & swallow sciences. If feasible, bowel lengthening surgery would be done and if all methods fail, these children will finally require intestinal transplant.

In his comments, Prof Mohamed Rela, Chairman and Managing Director, Rela Hospital, said, “While intestinal failure is rare in children overall, affecting approximately 24 in 100,000 babies, it significantly affects preterm infants. In India intestinal transplantation is often the primary treatment. However, our vision is to provide a comprehensive range of unique treatment services to the children, thus minimising the need for transplantation. We prioritise medical, surgical, and nutritional therapies to encourage natural intestinal growth, aligning with advanced international standards. We have an ongoing partnership with Carevue Health in offering these services. We hope that this new centre would benefit a large number of children from India and neighbouring countries.”

In his comments, Prof. Anil Vaidya, Director - Multivisceral Organ Transplantation, Rela Hospital, said, “The intestine, comprising the small intestine (10 feet in newborns, 20 feet in adults) and the large intestine (around 5 feet), plays a critical role in digestion. While losing the large intestine may have a lesser impact, the small intestine, where most digestion occurs, is essential. Its loss results in food passing undigested, necessitating intravenous nutrition (parenteral nutrition) for survival in cases of intestinal failure. Our center provides comprehensive, multidisciplinary support for infants, children, and adolescents with intestinal failure and complex gastrointestinal conditions.”

Dr. Naresh Shanmugam, Director - Women and Child Health & Senior Pediatric Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Rela Hospital commented, “The intestinal rehabilitation centre will provide end-to-end care encompassing a wide range of specialisations and nutritional & medical support for small infants both in hospital and in-home until they reach adequate weight where surgery or transplant could be offered. The services include advanced therapies to support intestinal function, personalised treatment for better patient outcomes, and collaborations with partner hospitals for continuity of care. Importantly, we offer Home Parenteral Nutrition (HPN) programs for sustained support, enabling patients to receive vital nutrition at home. Our multidisciplinary team works to transition patients from IV nutrition to oral or enteral feeding, reducing transplantation requirements, improving long-term outcomes, and reducing healthcare costs."

Dr. Ilankumaran Kaliamoorthy, CEO, Rela Hospital, commented, “This Centre would deliver unique services which would benefit a lot of children not only from India but also from neighbouring countries.”