Transplant Surgeon

Dr Sonal Asthana is a Senior Consultant associated with the Aster Integrated Liver Care Program at Aster CMI Hospital, Bangalore and Aster Medcity, Kochi. He completed his undergraduate medical training and postgraduate surgical degree from JIPMER, Pondicherry. He went on to obtain subspecialty training in Surgical Oncology at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.

Dr Rajiv Lochan is a Consultant HPB and Multi-Organ Transplant Surgeon associated with the Aster Integrated Liver Care Program at Aster CMI Hospital, Bangalore and Aster Medcity, Kochi. He has done his graduation (MBBS) from JSS Medical College, Mysore University and his MS (General Surgery) from Bangalore Medical College (ASGBI Gold Medal and First Rank). His interest in HPB Surgery dates back to his MS thesis on CBD stones under the supervision of Prof. Denesh Babu. During his formative years he also worked as Registrar to Prof. KS Gopinath after his MS. His interest in HPB and Transplantation Surgery resulted in him travelling to the UK and undertaking a research MD program (influence of genetic risk on development of sporadic pancreatic cancer) at Newcastle University, UK followed by Specialist training (6 years) with a national training number and subsequently obtained his certificate of completion of specialist training (CCT). This was followed by a period of senior fellowship at the Institute of Transplantation, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK where he focused on Liver Transplantation as his primary interest. In 2013, he undertook a Fellowship in Living Donor Liver Transplantation at the Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong.

Dr. Mathew Jacob is a Senior Consultant in Liver Transplantation and Hepatobiliary Surgery associated with the Aster Integrated Liver Care Program at Aster Medcity, Kochi and Aster CMI Hospital, Bangalore. He graduated from the Armed Forces Medical College in Pune following which he spent thirteen years in the UK gaining valuable experience in Hepatobiliary and Transplantation Surgery. He completed his basic surgical training at the Yorkshire School of Surgery in Leeds. In 2002 he was awarded the Royal College of Surgeons of England (London) research fellowship. In 2004, he obtained the national training number for further specialisation in the field of Hepatobiliary and Transplant Surgery. On completion of training he was awarded the Certificate of Completion of Specialist Training (CCT) by the General Medical Council (UK). He then moved to St James Hospital in Leeds as a post CCT Royal College Transplant Fellow. He was also granted the HESPERIS Fellowship by the European society of Organ Transplantation (ESOT) in 2011. In addition to routine general surgical and hepatobiliary procedures, he has experience in advanced procedures including surgery for gall bladder cancer, liver cancer, bile duct cancers, and pancreatic cancer. He is also experienced in laparoscopic liver surgery. He is an expert in liver transplantation and has experience in both cadaveric and living donor liver transplantation. Dr. Mathew Jacob is also an Honorary Research Fellow of the Royal College of surgeons of England. His research interest is in transplant epidemiology and prognostic modelling in liver transplantation. He has had oral presentations at various national and international meetings and congresses including American Transplant Congress, International Liver Transplant Congress and at the British Transplant Society Congress. He has worked with the Department of Health and the UK National Health Blood and Transplant Services conducting extensive research in the field of Liver Transplantation. He has written a several scientific articles on liver transplantation and complex hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery.

Dr. Kaiser Raja is a Senior Consultant in Hepatology and Liver Transplantation associated with the Aster Integrated Liver Care Program at Aster CMI Hospital, Bangalore and Aster Medcity, Kochi. After completing his basic medical training (MBBS) from Gandhi Medical College in Bhopal, India in 1996, he has done his post-graduation in Internal Medicine (MD) and his specialization in Gastroenterology and Hepatology (DM) from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh from 1996 to 2002. Following that he has done an ACGME accredited Advanced Fellowship in Liver Diseases and Transplant Hepatology from The Mount Sinai Medical Institute in New York, United States in 2008. Dr. Raja is an expert in the management of patients with chronic hepatitis B and C, autoimmune hepatitis, cirrhosis, liver cancer and post liver transplant patients. Dr. Raja has published in leading medical journals and is a regular invited speaker for major national and international medical conferences. Apart from Aster CMI Hospital, Bangalore, Dr. Raja has a regular monthly liver clinic in Indore in Madhya Pradesh and in Abu Dhabi and Dubai in UAE.

Past Affiliations and Achievements Consultant Hepatologist, Integrated Liver Care Program, BGS Global Hospitals Bangalore Consultant and Head, Department of Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, NMC Specialty Hospital, Abu Dhabi

Consultant, Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Aster Medical Centres, Dubai and Abu Dhabi Clinical Fellow, Division of Liver Diseases, The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, USA Member of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) Member of the Indian National Association for Study of the Liver (INASL)

 

A Gastrointestinal Surgeon with 8 years of cumulative experience (General surgery and GI surgery), Dr. Sudheer Mohammed is well-versed in complex Gastro intestinal and hepatopancreaticobiliary surgical procedures, including advanced laparoscopic GI surgery. Dr. Sudheer has attained specialised training in liver transplant surgery.

Qualifications

Achievements

Dr Karthik K Raichurkar is an experienced Hepato-biliary Surgeon with 6 years of Experience in the field of HPB surgery and Liver transplantation. He completed his MBBS from Govt Medical College Mysore in 2007. He Completed his MS Gen Surgery From JIPMER, Puducherry in 2011 and later went on to Complete his Mch GI surgery from the prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi in 2016. He has completed his Fellowship in Liver transplant from MGR University in Chennai in 2018.

A General Surgeon trained in conventional as well as advanced laparoscopic procedures, Dr. Jithin Reji George’s areas of special interest are transplant surgery and liver care.

Qualifications

A General Physician with experience in providing treatment to patients with blood disorders/cancers, Dr. Anish G Nair’s areas of special interest include Hepatology, Transplant Medicine, Haematology and Critical Care.

Qualifications

Dr. Aravind K S is a highly-qualified Consultant in the Department of Integrated Liver Care at Aster RV Hospital in JP Nagar, Bangalore. He is well-known as a Liver Transplant Doctor in one of the best teams of integrated liver care in India.

Experience:

With many years of experience, Dr Aravind K S is well-versed in liver transplantation and HPB surgery. He was the Consultant Liver Transplant & HPB surgery at Columbia Asia – Medanta, Columbia Asia referral hospital, Bangalore from 2015-2019. He was the Senior Resident in the Department of General Surgery at JIPMER, Puducherry from 2008 - 2012. He was a General Surgery resident at PGIMER Chandigarh, Bangalore India from 2008. His surgical experience includes surgeries on liver such as Anatomical/non-anatomical/ extended resections, minimally invasive left lateral segmentectomy/ metastasectomy/ cyst excision, and de-roofing. Biliary Tract - Surgery for benign & malignant lesions of the gallbladder, liver resection for hilar cholangiocarcinoma, and laparoscopic surgery for benign biliary diseases. Pancreas - Pancreato-duodenectomy (+/- venous resection/ reconstruction), distal pancreatectomy/ splenectomy - surgery for chronic pancreatitis. Portal Hypertension surgeries - Shunt surgeries and devascularization procedures. He is an integral part of a team for Liver transplant surgeries such as a Deceased donor/ living donor liver transplant. Hence he is regarded as one of the Best Liver Transplant Surgeons in Bangalore, Karnataka for his expertise in Liver transplant & HPB surgery. His teaching experience includes proficiency in interactive teaching sessions and also involved in imparting knowledge to Medical students, nursing staff, and health workers for 10 yrs. He was involved in the role of Cardiopulmonary exercise testing in predicting the early post-transplant course and outcome in living donor liver transplantation for A pilot study from 2013- 2014 at ILBS Delhi, India. He has good experience in Donor safety in LDLT in a low volume centre at Columbia Asia Bangalore.

Education:

He completed a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBBS) from Bangalore Medical College and Combined Hospitals at Bangalore, India in 2002. He did MCh in HPB Surgery from the Institute of the liver and biliary sciences in New Delhi, India from 2012 - 2015. He is an expert in handling emergency and management of elective surgical conditions. He has exposure and experience in super-specialities such as surgical gastroenterology (HPB surgery and Liver transplantation).

Areas of Expertise:

• Management of hepatic tumors
• Biliary malignancies like surgery in cirrhotics and portal hypertension
• Living donor liver transplant
• Borderline resectable carcinoma pancreas

Conferences/Presentations:

1. TIPS: A novel use for reducing morbidity after surgery for extra-hepatic intra-abdominal malignancy in patients with cirrhosis: IASG 2013 Kolkata.
2. Post-Shunt Myelopathy in NCPH: A unique and challenging undertaking: IASG 2013 Kolkata.
3. Biliary complications after living donor living transplantation: initial experience at a teaching hospital: Joint International Congress of ILTS, ELITA & LICAGE at London in June 2014.Pancreaticoduodenectomy in a case of ampullary adenocarcinoma with the circum-portal pancreas (e video): 11th World Congress of the International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (IHPBA World Congress 2014).
4. Surgery for walled-off pancreatic necrosis: two subgroups: 5th International AOPA Conference on April 2014 in Delhi.
5. Desmoplastic small round cell tumor of pancreas-a rare entity: 5th International AOPA Conference on April 2014 in Delhi.
6. The outcome of hepatica-enteric anastomosis in cirrhotics: IASG 2014 in Ahmedabad.
7. Umbilical hernia in cirrhosis: A sinister complication: IHPBA 2015 in Hyderabad.
8. Donor Safety in Living Donor Liver Transplantation at a Low Volume Center: ILTS 2017, Prague.
9. Surgical Volume: how to negate its effect on the outcome? - ILTS 2017 Prague.
10. Liver resection for HCC in a cirrhotic: Gastrocon in 2017 at Bangalore.
11. Venous reconstruction in LDLT; Panelist in ILS 2018 at New Delhi.

Awards:

• Graduated with honours from Batch of 2015 MCh in HPB Surgery, ILBS, Delhi
• Graduated with honours from Batch of 2008 Masters in General Surgery PGIMER, Chandigarh
• Top 5 percentile from Batch of 2003, Medical College
• Top 1 percentile for State in Undergraduate School

 

Dr. Apurva Pande is an experienced hepatologist with 5 years of experience in treating liver diseases. He has completed his MBBS from Dr. B.R.Ambedkar Medical College, Bangalore in 2007 and MD in General Medicine from Subharti Medical College, Swami Vivekanand Subharti University in 2013. Later, in 2019, he completed his DM in Hepatology from Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS),New Delhi.

Dr. Prakash Doraiswamy is an expert in Anaesthesia and Critical Care. He is a Consultant in the Department of Critical Care at Aster CMI Hospital, Bangalore and is associated with the Aster Integrated Liver Care program. Dr. Prakash specialises in liver transplant anaesthesia and critical care of post-transplant patients. He has trained at some of the most renowned institutes in the United Kingdom and India. He has been an integral part of more than 300 transplant procedures, including dual organ (liver and kidney) transplantations with the Integrated Liver Care Team. He is also a trained cardiac anaesthetist, his fields of special interest include risk assessment/management and enhanced recovery programmes.

Dr. Arun is an anaesthetist and a chronic pain management expert with two decades of experience to his credit. He is a Senior Consultant, Anaesthesia and Chronic Pain Management, associated with Aster Integrated Liver Care Program at Aster CMI Hospital, Bangalore. ​He specialises in transplant anaesthesia and is an expert in managing anaesthesia for high-risk surgical procedures and difficult airways. Dr. Arun has trained in some of the finest institutes in the United Kingdom and India. Dr. Arun is highly experienced in the management of chronic pain, especially interventional pain management of headaches, spinal, musculoskeletal and cancer pain. His areas of special interest include solid organ transplant, hepatobiliary surgery, oncosurgery, chronic pain in failed back surgeries, chronic headache and facial pain.

Dr. Charles Panackel is a Consultant in Hepatology and Liver Transplantation at Aster Medcity, Kochi. Dr. Panackel has done his basic medical training (MBBS) from Govt. Medical College Kottayam followed by specialization and post-graduate training in General Medicine (MD program) from Govt. Medical College, Trivandrum. He was a Senior Lecturer in Medicine at Govt. Medical College, Kottayam from 2004 to 2005. Dr. Panackel did Advanced Training in Gastroenterology and Hepatology (DM program) from Govt. Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram in 2008. He pursued his interests in Liver Diseases and obtained a Clinical Fellowship in Hepatology from National University Hospital, Singapore. From 2008 to 2015, he has worked at Medical Trust Hospital, Kochi as Consultant in Gastroenterology and Hepatology. He is well trained in diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopy. His areas of interest include complex liver disease, liver cancers and liver transplantation. He has many publications to his credit in national and international journals.

Dr. Mallikarjun Sakpal is a Senior Consultant in Hepatology and Liver Transplantation. He is based at Aster CMI Hospital in Bangalore, India. Dr. Mallikarjun has done his basic medical training (MBBS) from Gulbarga Medical College following which he has done his post-graduation in Internal Medicine (MD) and his specialization in Hepatology (DM) from the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh from 2008 to 2014. Dr. Mallikarjun is adept in management of patients suffering from a wide variety of liver and biliary diseases, ICU care of critically ill patients as well as pre- and post-operative management of patients who undergo liver transplantation. Dr. Mallikarjun has done research and published on hepatitis C related liver disease, liver sarcoidosis, and role of vitamin D in obesity related liver diseases.