KARACHI – Surgeons in Karachi performed Pakistan’s first ever liverauto-transplantation procedure at the Dow University of Health Sciences(DUHS), marking a major medical development.

Eminent liver transplant surgeon Prof Dr Faisal Dar led the procedure alongwith his team, comprising Dr Jahanzeb Hyder, Dr Muhammad Iqbal, and others,to treat a 28-year-old cancer patient.

Cancer had damaged some portion of the liver and some important veins ofthe patient, who hails from Zhob town of Balochistan.

Officials said that the tumor was surgically removed and damaged veins wererestored after taking live out of the body, adding that the organ wassuccessfully re-implanted.

The DUHS said that the patient is recovering.

Vice-Chancellor, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Prof SaeedQuraishy said on Saturday that only around 20 such procedures have beencarried out in the entire world, Geo News reported.

Dr Jahanzeb Hyder said Pakistan annually needs hundreds of livertransplants because of liver cancers, and damage due to hepatitis B and C.

Urging people to donate parts of their livers, he said that it is the onlyorgan in the body that can regenerate itself.