Byline: Malathy Iyer

MUMBAI: Tardeo teenager Pranay Poojari loves fast bikes, but has been asked to go slow. He has also been told to shun the roadside kebabs he used to gorge on thrice a week. The 18-year-old is recovering from a liver transplant he had to undergo after suffering the

Pranay suffered a fulminant liver failure which could be reversed only after his father, Shankar, flew down from Dubai in a hurry and donated 600 gm of his liver. It was perhaps the first time in the city that a liver transplant surgery-acknowledged as the most complicated operation-was carried out as an emergency. The surgery at Jaslok Hospital on August 5 shows the downside of the street food culture.

"Fulminant liver failure occurs suddenly and is always severe," says Dr Aabha Nagral, who treated Pranay. While patients with chronic liver problems like cirrhosis can be up and about, fulminant failure patients deteriorate quickly. "Fulminant patients are typically young and otherwise healthy individuals. So, the disease comes as a shock to the family."

Pranay's mother recalls how despite a mild fever he needed to be strapped to a ventilator in a matter of days. "All I knew was he had jaundice. Even when his father landed from Dubai, we had no inkling he would need a liver transplant urgently," she adds.

Pranay's story, a telling commentary on how unhygienic food can cost one dearly, also underlines the trend of live liver donations in India. Till May 2007, India saw 318 transplants. About 70% involved a live donor, says a study. In the US, around 90% transplants involve brain-dead donors.