Doctors of a hospital conducted a liver transplant of a one-year-old girl from Saudia Arabia using a bovine jugular vein of a cow to provide blood circulation to the new liver.

"Thanks to the doctors and the hospital staff. We are satisfied with the doctors and their result," said father of the baby named Hoor. Doctors of Artemis Hospital said the transplant procedure was 'extremely rare'. "When the baby arrived here, she was very weak due to her liver problem. She weighed around 5 kgs and 200 grams and was suffering from Biliary Atresia. Hoor had undergone an operation for the same in Saudi Arabia which was not successful and local doctors then referred her here," said Dr Giriraj Bora, Senior Consultant, Artemis hospital.

"We had to undergo this kind of transplant as cadaver vein donation is not available in India. The baby's vein was very small and cadaver vein was not available here. Later, we explained the family of the infant that bovine jugular vein (animal vein) would be used in the transplant and we took their consent for the same, to which they agreed," he added.

According to the doctors here, such kind of liver transplant has been performed for the first time in the Delhi-NCR region in an infant. "This is a very very rare case as this is the first liver transplant in the world in which a cow's veins have been used to transmit blood to the new liver. These veins have been sourced from foreign countries," said Dr Ramdip Ray, Senior Consultant, Artemis hospital. "This case is so rare because 1/8th of the liver has been used in this transplant along with the bovine jugular vein of the cow has been used to replace the infant's vein," he added.