Guinness seeks medical records after Pakistani surgeons perform 10 liver transplants in under 24 hours

LAHORE: Guinness World Records has sought medical records from the Pakistan Kidney and Liver Institute and Research Centre (PKLI&RC) after its 120-member team of surgeons and support staff claimed a record-breaking achievement by performing 10 liver transplant procedures, including one on a nine-month-old child, in 23 hours and 20 minutes. A Guinness official said a team is also expected to visit PKLI&RC in this regard. The medical institute received a response from Guinness after submitting the case online along with visual evidence. “We have achieved a landmark breakthrough in transplantation medicine, demonstrating a novel clinical approach that expands organ utilisation and advances the treatment of rare metabolic diseases,” said Dr Prof. Faisal Saud Dar, dean of PKLI&RC, during a press briefing on Wednesday. The specialised multidisciplinary team, comprising transplant surgeons, hepatologists, paediatricians, anaesthetists, intensivists, nurses, transplant coordinators and allied healthcare professionals, was also present. Describing it as an unprecedented demonstration of surgical innovation and clinical excellence, Prof Dar said the PKLI&RC team of senior surgeons successfully performed 10 liver transplants in 23 hours and 20 minutes, including seven domino liver transplants and eight Auxiliary Partial Orthotopic Liver Transplants (APOLT). A domino liver transplant is a sequential procedure in which one patient’s healthy liver is removed and transplanted into a second recipient, while APOLT is a complex surgical procedure in which a partial donor liver is implanted alongside a portion of the patient’s native liver. “This innovative transplant strategy enabled nine children and one adult to receive life-saving liver transplants from only three donors, demonstrating how advanced surgical expertise can substantially expand the impact of scarce donor organs,” he said. He added that all patients had been discharged from the hospital and reunited with their familie