A mum-of-two who developed a life-threatening autoimmune disease is still alive thanks to a world-first NHS decision to change the priority list for liver transplants.
Acute on chronic liver failure (ACLF) occurs when someone with long-term liver failure suddenly develops organ failure.
In the past, patients were rarely offered transplants because of how quickly they become severely ill.
But an NHS pilot scheme in 2021 moved ACLF patients almost to the top of the priority list – and this became standard practice at the end of last year.
Sunita Bhuyan, 50, from Colchester, had a healthy and active lifestyle before she developed primary biliary cholangitis and autoimmune hepatitis, which caused ACLF within three weeks.
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She had an urgent liver transplant at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge in 2024. Sunita said: “The diagnosis came as a tremendous shock.
“My condition deteriorated, I was put into an induced coma and soon after that I had multiple organ failure. Without the transplant I would not have made it.”
Sunita recently celebrated the six month anniversary of her transplant and “six extra months with family and friends”.
She added: “A simple ‘thank you’ doesn’t suffice for how grateful my family and I are for this gift of life. Not a day goes by when I don’t think of the donor and their gift.
“My recovery is ongoing. I have always loved cooling and baking and I was able to bake a large cheesecake for my friends recently. I can now do regular walks which I absolutely love.”
Some 52 patients were listed for transplant during the pilot phase and 42 received transplants.
Around 70 per cent of ACLF sufferers usually die within 28 days. However, the one-year survival rate for patients enrolled in the study was 77 per cent.
Other countries are now said to be considering the NHS’s life-saving approach.
Professor Derek Manas, medical director of organ and tissue donation and transplantation at NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “The success of this change is a tribute to the work of the whole liver transplant community.
“People with ACLF are critically ill – even with prioritisation, nearly 20 per cent of people in the pilot service died before transplantation was possible.
“The results confirm that for carefully selected ACLF patients, liver transplantation is a practical and highly effective treatment option where no other similarly effective interventions exist.
“But without the generosity of donor families no transplants are possible – we urge people to show their support on the NHS Organ Donor Register.”
The study was published in the journal Lancet Regional Health Europe.
