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LETTER TO THE EDITOR |
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| Year : 2011 | Volume
: 16
| Issue : 3 | Page : 120 |
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Pediatric liver transplantation in India: The complete picture?
Ramandeep S Arora
Department of Pediatric Oncology, Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| Date of Web Publication | 4-Aug-2011 |
Correspondence Address:
Ramandeep S Arora
19 Wet Earth Green, Swinton, Manchester, M27 8AL
United Kingdom
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0971-9261.83494
How to cite this article:
Arora RS. Pediatric liver transplantation in India: The complete picture?. J Indian Assoc Pediatr Surg 2011;16:120 |
Sir,
It was a pleasure to read the recent report on pediatric liver transplantation in India. [1] I congratulate the authors, not only on their endeavor in this field, but also for the good outcomes they have managed to achieve. For patients, parents, and clinicians in India, where liver transplantation offers the only hope of cure, such news is welcome.
The authors have provided detailed results, which mainly relate to the demography, procedure, complications, and outcome. This is followed by an extended discussion of their results. Could I request the authors to provide some more details, which I believe may provide a more complete picture of their experience? It is possible that they were unable to provide this information due to editorial limitations in manuscript size.
First, it would be useful to know the financial cost of such a treatment. This could have been direct (surgery, drugs, investigations, hospitalizations, etc.) or indirect costs (transportation, food, lodging, etc.). Second, could there be some detail on survival by the underlying etiology? The authors have described the overall survival as well as survival by two time periods. Did the survival vary by etiology? Finally, a succinct and critical review of the published and gray literature on the pediatric liver transplantation experience in India could have put their achievements in context. I believe this entire information would help all stakeholders involved in the care of a child with end-stage liver disease, in India, make an informed decision.
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| 1. | Rao S, D'Cruz AL, Aggarwal R, Chandrashekar S, Chetan G, Gopalakrishnan G, et al. Pediatric liver transplantation: A report from a pediatric surgical unit. J Indian Assoc Pediatr Surg 2011;16:2-7. 
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