Pune: A 30-year-old IT professional was diagnosed with acute Hepatitis A infection which is a type of food-borne hepatitis generally occurring in children. Due to severity of infection, the patient suffered from acute liver disease, which later triggered renal failure. With the help of doctors at a city-based hospital, the patient has completely recovered.
On admission, the patient had fever and was deeply jaundiced, weak and unable to eat and with irrelevant speech at times. He was on an anti-epileptic drug to prevent fits which can sometimes lead to liver injury. He had no pre-existing liver disease.
His Acute Liver Failure (ALF) was triggered by viral Hepatitis A. With no available liver treatment, such patients can only hope the liver improves with time and a liver transplant is the only other option. The potentially life threatening condition starts as a seemingly innocuous viral hepatitis but progresses rapidly.
In this case, the patient was discharged after almost 8 weeks of hospitalisation without any need for liver transplant. Gastroenterologist Dr Parimal Lawate, at Jehangir Hospital where the patient was admitted, diagnosed the case.
“In this case, we could salvage this patient using a new modality of treatment called Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (CRRT) which is now available here at the hospital. This helps to remove ammonia and various toxins from the blood and helps rapid recovery from coma and renal failure. Using this technology our patient completely recovered without the need for a liver transplant,” said Dr Lawate.
Nephrologist Dr Sunil Jawale, who worked on this case with Dr Lawate, said CRRT is used for patients with combined liver and acute renal failure, because they are often hemodynamically unstable.
“The treatment is not cheap and costs Rs 80,000 to Rs 1,00,000 in consumables. CRRT is better than intermittent haemodialysis in patients who are hemodynamically compromised. Though he is discharged now, he will need follow-up for 3 months and once recovered will lead a normal life,” said Dr Jawale.