Pediatric Liver Transplant at 11 Months: Adriana’s Story

At just 11 months old, Adriana faced a life-threatening liver cancer with no treatment options left in her home country. Her family came to Acibadem, where a multidisciplinary transplant team performed a highly complex pediatric liver transplant using a living-donor graft from her father. Today she is back home and healthy.

In the video, Prof. Dr. Hamdi Karakayalı explains the liver transplantation process, the medical considerations involved in treating such a young patient and the coordinated care required before, during and after the operation.

Pediatric liver transplantation may be considered when severe liver disease prevents the liver from functioning and other treatments are no longer sufficient. In children, the conditions that can lead to transplantation include biliary atresia, metabolic liver diseases, congenital disorders and acute liver failure. The procedure replaces the failing liver with a healthy donor liver and requires careful multidisciplinary evaluation, transplant surgery, intensive care, immunosuppressive treatment and long-term follow-up.

Infant transplantation demands extreme surgical precision and specialised pediatric intensive care. Acibadem’s transplant centres combine experienced surgical teams with dedicated pediatric ICU capacity — the combination that makes cases like Adriana’s possible.

For families facing a diagnosis with no local treatment path, a structured second opinion clarifies what options actually exist; the international patient team coordinates records review, treatment planning and travel. Learn more about liver transplantation at Acibadem or request a medical opinion.