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Dr. Akila Rajakumar

MBBS, MD (Anaesthesia), FRCA

Anaesthesia and Intensive Care
Liver Anaesthesia and Intensive Care
Intensive Care Unit

Director - Liver Intensive Care

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Dr. Akila Rajakumar

Brief Profile

Dr. Akila Rajakumar is a highly experienced Anaesthesia and Intensive Care specialist with over 20 years of expertise in liver anaesthesia and critical care. She serves as the Director of Liver Intensive Care at Rela Institute & Medical Centre, Chennai, and is also the Course Director for the Fellowship Programme in HPB and Liver Transplant Anaesthesia, playing a key role in advanced clinical training and academic leadership at Rela.

Following her postgraduate training in anaesthesiology, Dr. Akila has gained extensive international exposure through five years of clinical practice with the NHS, UK, working across centres in London, East Anglia, and Edinburgh. Her expertise spans the full spectrum of liver anaesthesia and intensive care, with a strong emphasis on complex transplant and high-acuity cases.

At Rela Hospital, she leads a large multidisciplinary critical care team delivering services across 100 critical care beds, including a dedicated 36-bed Liver Intensive Care Unit.

Educational Qualifications

  • FRCA
    Royal College of Anesthetists, UK
    2008
  • MD in Anaesthesiology
    Madras Medical College, India
    2004
  • MBBS
    Madras Medical College, India
    2000

Clinical Expertise

  • Anaesthesia and Intensive Care
  • HPB and Liver Transplant Anaesthesia
  • Liver Intensive Care
  • Combined Liver & Kidney Transplantation
  • Acute Liver Failure
  • Intensive Liver Care

Accomplishments

Affiliations and Memberships

Present position

Honors and Awards

Editorial Work and Reviewer

Innovation

Associated Publications

Research and Publication

Research Experience

  • Use of terlipressin in adult living donor liver transplant recipients (2017)
  • High-volume plasmapheresis in acute liver failure due to yellow phosphorus poisoning
  • Postoperative pain experience in living liver donors: description and prediction
  • Prospective study on Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) rectal colonisation in Indian living donor liver transplant recipients – incidence and outcomes

Book Chapters

  • Kaliamoorthy I, Rajakumar A. Anaesthesia and Critical Care for Liver Resection.
    *Surgery of the Liver – ECAB Clinical Update: Surgical Gastroenterology and Liver Transplantation

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

  • Rajakumar A, Kaliamoorthy I, Rela M, Mandell MS. Small-for-Size Syndrome: Bridging the Gap Between Liver Transplantation and Graft Recovery. *Seminars in Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia (2017)
  • Reddy MS, Kaliamoorthy I, Rajakumar A, et al. Routine perioperative use of terlipressin in adult living donor liver transplantation: A randomized controlled trial. *Liver Transplantation (2017)
  • Rajakumar A, Gupta S, Malleeswaran S, et al. Anaesthesia and intensive care for simultaneous liver–kidney transplantation. *Indian Journal of Anaesthesia (2016)
  • Kaliamoorthy I, Reddy MS, Rajakumar A, et al. Safe emergency evacuation of a tertiary care hospital during the Chennai floods. *Indian Journal of Critical Care Medicine (2016)
  • Rajakumar A, Kaliamoorthy I, Reddy MS, Rela M. Anaesthetic considerations for liver transplantation in propionic acidemia. *Indian Journal of Anaesthesia (2016)

Editorial & Educational Contributions

  • Guest Editor, ILTS Education Website (iltseducation.com) (2015)
    • Small-for-Size Syndrome After Living Donor Liver Transplantation: Intensive Care Management
    • Small-for-Size Syndrome in Living Donor Liver Transplantation: Introduction

Oral Presentations

  • Double-blind randomized controlled trial of routine terlipressin use in adult living donor liver transplantation. *Liver Transplantation (2015)
  • Epidural analgesia for donor hepatectomy: Experience with 167 cases. *ILTS Conference, London (2014)

Poster Presentations

  • Deceased donor vs living donor liver transplantation outcomes. *ILTS Conference, London (2014)
  • Predictors of renal dysfunction in liver transplant recipients. *ILTS Conference, London (2014)

Selected Conference Abstracts

  • Anaesthesia and intensive care within a new liver transplant programme: Outcomes after 179 transplants. *Liver Transplantation (2013)
  • Paediatric liver transplantation in South India: Outcomes from the first 50 cases
  • Deceased donor liver transplantation in the East: Challenges and opportunities
  • Balancing living related and cadaveric donor transplantation in South Asia
  • Comparison of clinical efficacy of atracurium vs cisatracurium

Experience

  • Director – Liver Intensive Care
    Rela Institute & Medical Centre (RIMC), Chennai
    Present
  • Gleneagles Global Hospital, Chennai
    May 2009 – August 2018

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