Prof. Mohamed Rela

Brief Profile

• Prof. Mohamed Rela is a pioneer in liver transplantation with over 28 years of experience. He started the Institute of Liver Disease and Transplantation at Global Gleneagles Health City in 2009. It has quickly become the largest liver transplant program in India. Since its inception, over 1500 liver transplantation surgeries have been performed under this programme. He is also a professor of Liver Transplant Surgery at Kings College Hospital, London.
• Prof. Mohamed Rela, moved from Global Gleneagles group of hospitals to start ‘Dr. Rela Hospital’. His vision is to address the health care concerns of the local population with international standards. He also aims to provide cost-effective high-end treatments like multi-organ transplantation.

Educational Qualifications

• M.B.B.S – 1982, University of Madras, India
• M.S – 1987, University of Madras, India
• FRCS – 1988, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, United Kingdom
• DSc (Honoris causa) – 2013, The Tamil Nadu Dr MGR Medical University, India

Accomplishments

• Prof. Mohamed Rela is one of the most accomplished surgeons in the world. He has published over 400 scientific articles and papers on liver transplantation, complex hepatobiliary pancreatic surgery and more.
• He has performed over 4000 liver transplant surgeries.
• In December 1997, a team led by him performed successful liver transplantation on a five-day-old girl, which gave him an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records in 2000. She is now a 20-year-old law student.
• He has pioneered the technique of split liver transplantation where one cadaver liver is split into two and transplanted into two individuals.
• As per an article published by ‘Top Masters in Healthcare Administration’, he is also one of the most Innovative Paediatric Surgeons alive.

Affiliations and Memberships

• BMA: British Medical Association
• RSM: Royal Society of Medicine
• BTS: British Transplantation Society
• ILTS: International liver transplant society
• AUGIS: Association of Upper GI surgeons of Great Britain
• ESOT: European Society of Organ Transplantation
• BASL: British Association of Study of the Liver
• IHPBA: International Hepato-Pancreato Biliary Association
• APASL: The Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver
• AST: American Society of Transplantation

Present position

• Chairman & Managing Director, Dr. Rela Hospital, Chennai
• Professor of Liver Surgery and Transplantation, Institute of Liver Disease, King’s College Hospital, NHS Trust, London
• Course Director, Post MCh Fellowship in Liver Transplantation, Dr MGR Medical University, Tamil Nadu
• President-Elect 2021 for the International Liver Transplant Society
• Executive Council Member, Living Donor Liver Transplantation – Study Group

Honors Awards

• Panchanna Chaterjee Oration and Gold Medal: Association of Surgeons of India. December, 1996
• Senior Lecturer: King’s College, University of London, 2001
• Recognised Teacher status and PhD Supervisor: University of London, 2001
• Professor of Liver Surgery and Transplantation: King’s College, University of London, 2005
• Scroll of Honour and Medal: Jawaharlal Institute of Post graduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Pondicherry, 2009
• Dr Madhanagopal Oration and Medal: Madras Medical College, 2010
• Scroll of Honour: The Tamilnadu Dr. MGR Medical University, 2012

Editorial Work and Reviewer

Editorial Board:

• Associate Editor – “Transplantation” – Official Journal of The Transplantation Society
• Editor – Liver Transplant Forum – Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology – Official journal of the Indian National Association for the Study of the Liver (INASL) 2010-2015

Reviewer:

• “Liver transplantation” official journal of American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases
• “British Journal of Surgery” Europe’s premier surgical journal
• “Transplant International” official journal of European Society for Organ Transplantation
• “Paediatric Transplantation” official journal of The International Paediatric Transplant Association
• “HPB International” official journal of International Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association
• “Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology” official journal of Indian Association for Study of the Liver
• Hepatology International – Official journal of the Asian Pacific Association for the Study of the Liver (APASL)
• “Langenbeck’s Archives of Surgery”
• Annals of Surgery
• World Journal of Surgery
• “Case Reports in Pathology”
• “International Journal of Nephrology”

Innovation

Surgical Innovations

I have published extensively in the area of clinical liver transplantation (over 160 peer reviewed articles). Throughout my period as a consultant surgeon I have concentrated on developing and practicing new surgical techniques in liver transplantation. The major drive for this has been shortage of donor organs particularly for small children. I have led the country in techniques such as Split liver transplantation, and led the world in performing Auxiliary liver transplantation and Mono-segment liver transplantation for transplantation in neonates.

Associated Publications

• M Rela, ND Heaton, P Muiesan, KC Tan. A technique for hepatic artery anastomosis during orthotopic liver transplantation. Transplant Int. 1995; 8:244-24521.
• M Rela, P Muiesan, P Andreani, P Gibbs, G Mieli-Vergani, AP Mowat and ND Heaton. Auxiliary liver transplantation for metabolic diseases. Transpl Proc. 1997; 29: 444-445
• M Rela, H Bonatti, P Muiesan, ND Heaton. Nonanatomical Reduction of Liver Allografts: A Promising Option for Neonates with Fulminant Hepatic Failure. Transpl Proc. 1997; 29: 446
• M Rela, V Vougas, P Muiesan, H Vilca Melendez, V Smyrniotis, J Karani, Roger Williams, N Heaton. Split liver transplantation: King’s College Hospital experience. Ann Surg 1998; 227:282-8
• M Rela, ND Heaton. Split liver transplantation. Leading Article. British Journal of Surgery 1998; 85: 881-883
• M Rela, P Muiesan, H Vilca-Melendez A Dhawan, A Baker, G Mieli-Vergani, ND Heaton. Auxiliary orthotopic liver transplantation for Crigler Najjar Syndrome Type 1. Ann Surg 1999; 229:565-569
• P Srinivasan, P Muiesan, H Vilca Melendez, ND Heaton, M Rela. Monosegmental Liver Transplantation. Surgery 1999;126:10-12
• Deshpande RR, Bowles M, Vilca Melendez H, Srinivasan P, Girlanda R, Dhawan A, MieliVergani G, Muiesan P, Heaton N, Rela M. Results of split liver transplantation in children. Ann Surg. 2002; 236:248-53.
• Deshpande RR, Heaton ND, Rela M. Surgical anatomy of segmental liver transplantation. Br J Surg. 2002 Sep;89(9):1078-88.
• Review. Maguire D, Vilca-Melendez H, Heaton ND, Rela M. Is cholangiography required for ex situ splitting of cadaveric livers? Transpl Int. 2004 Jan;17(1):46-8.
• Fusai G, Steinberg R, Prachalias A, Heaton ND, Spitz L, Rela M. Ex vivo liver surgery for extraadrenal pheochromocytoma. Pediatr Surg Int. 2006 Mar;22(3):282-5.
• Tucker O, Prachalias A, Kane P, Rela M. Graft positioning at liver transplantation in situs inversus. Liver Transpl. 2006 Nov;12(11):1720-2.
• Rela M, Battula N, Madanur M, Mieli-Vergani G, Dhawan A, Champion M, Raiman J, Heaton N. Auxiliary liver transplantation for propionic acidemia: a 10-year follow-up. Am J Transplant. 2007 Sep;7(9):2200-3.
• Heaton N, Faraj W, Vilca Melendez H, Jassem W, Muiesan P, Mieli-Vergani G, Dhawan A, Rela M. Living related liver transplantation in children: A single centre experience. Accepted August 2007- BJS
• Faraj W, Dar F, Bartlett A, Melendez HV, Marangoni G, Mukherji D, Vergani GM, Dhawan A, Heaton N, Rela M. Auxiliary liver transplantation for acute liver failure in children. Ann Surg. 2010 Feb;251(2):351-6
• Rela M, Bharathan A, Palaniappan K, Cherian PT, Reddy MS. Portal flow modulation in auxiliary partial orthotopic liver transplantation. Pediatr Transplant. 2015 May;19(3):255-60.
• Govil S, Shanmugam NP, Reddy MS, Narasimhan G, Rela M. A metabolic chimera: Two defective genotypes make a normal phenotype. Liver Transpl. 2015 Nov;21(11):1453-4.

Research Publication

• Lara Neves Souza, Rodrigo Bronze de Martino, Alberto Sanchez-Fueyo, Mohamed Rela, Anil Dhawan, John O’Grady, Nigel Heaton, Alberto Quaglia: Histopathology of 460 liver allografts removed at retransplantation: A shift in disease patterns over 27 years. Clinical Transplantation 02/2018;, DOI:10.1111/ctr.13227
• Michael Charlton, Josh Levitsky, Bashar Aqel, John O’Grady, Julie Hemibach, Mary RInella, Marwan Ghabril, Ray Thomason, Patrizia Burra, Ester Coelho Little, Marina Berenguer, Abraham Shaked, James Trotter, John Roberts, Manuel Rodriguez-Davalos, Mohamed Rela, Elizabeth Pomfret, Faouzi Saliba: International Liver Transplant Society Consensus Statement on IMMUNOSUPPRESSION IN LIVER TRANSPLANT RECIPIENTS. Transplantation 02/2018;, DOI:10.1097/TP.0000000000002147
• Trevor L. Nydam, Mettu Srinivas Reddy, Elizabeth A. Pomfret, Mohamed Rela: Progression of living liver donation worldwide. Current Opinion in Organ Transplantation 02/2018; 23(2):1., DOI:10.1097/MOT.0000000000000516
• Mayank Jain, jayanthi venkataraman, joy vargese, Mohamed Rela, mukul vij: A rare cause of gastrointestinal bleeding in the post-transplant setting. 11/2017; 3(4)., DOI:10.5114/ceh.2017.71447
• Mohamed Rela, Naresh P. Shanmugham: Accessible Pediatric Liver Transplantation in India: A Long way to go. Indian pediatrics 11/2017; 54(11):911-912., DOI:10.1007/s13312-017-1180-5
• Ashwin Rammohan, Sripriya Srinivas, Yahya Al-Azri, Srinivas M Reddy, Mohamed Rela: Restoring One Way Traffic Across the Roux Loop: The Nakajo Valve. 11/2017; 22(1)., DOI:10.14701/ahbps.2018.22.1.90
• Dinesh Jothimani, Ezhil Arasan, Vaibhav Patil, Mohamed Rela: Periscreen Strip Test—Rapid Diagnosis of Spontaneous Bacterial Peritonitis. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology 07/2017; 7:S54., DOI:10.1016/j.jceh.2017.05.102
• Sanjay Govil, Ashwin Rammohan,Sandeep Rajasekar, Mohamed Rela: Should the A2ALL Definition of Early Allograft Dysfunction (EAD) Replace Dahm Criteria for Small-for-Size Dysfunction (SFSD) as the Outcome Predictor after Adult LDLT?. Transplantation 05/2017; 101(5S2):128.
• Ashwin Rammohan, Mettu S Reddy, Naresh Shanmugam, Ilankumaran Kaliamoorthy, Gomathy Narasimhan, Venugopal Kota, Mohamed Rela: Auxiliary Partial Orthotopic Liver Transplantation (APOLT): No Longer Stepping through the Looking Glass?. Transplantation 05/2017; 101(5S2):25.
• Ashwin Rammohan, Mettu S Reddy, Mohammed Safwan, Gomathy Narasimhan, Sanjay Govil, Venugopal Kota, Mohamed Rela: Factors Predicting Readmission Following Deceased and Live Donor Liver Transplantation. Transplantation 05/2017; 101(5S2):242.
• Ashwin Rammohan, Mettu S Reddy, Mohammed Safwan, Gomathy Narasimhan, Sanjay Govil, Venugopal Kota, Mohamed Rela: Pattern & Impact of Readmissions following Deceased & Live Donor Liver Transplantation.
• Uday A. Sanglodkar, Dinesh Jothimani, Mohamed Rela: Hemospray for Recurrent Oesophageal Band Ulcer Bleeding. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology 07/2017; 7:S95., DOI:10.1016/j.jceh.2017.05.171
• Lekshmi Kalinathan, Ruba Soundar Kathavarayan, Dinakaran Nagendram, Mukul Vij, Mohamed Rela: Segmentation of hepatocellular carcinoma and dysplastic liver tumors in histopathology images using area based adaptive expectation maximization. Multimedia Tools and Applications 01/2017;, DOI:10.1007/s11042-016-4260-y
• Shanmugam N, Valamparampil JJ, Scott JX, Vij M, Narasimhan G, Reddy MS, RelaM. Complete remission of refractory hepatoblastoma after liver transplantation ina child with sorafenib monotherapy: A new hope? Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2017Dec;64(12). doi: 10.1002/pbc.26701. Epub 2017 Jul 11. PubMed PMID: 28696063.
• Rammohan A, Reddy MS, Farouk M, Vargese J, Rela M. Pembrolizumab forMetastatic Hepatocellular Carcinoma Following Live Donor Liver Transplantation:The Silver Bullet? Hepatology. 2017 Oct 10. doi: 10.1002/hep.29575. [Epub aheadof print] PubMed PMID: 29023959.
• Rela M, Reddy MS. Pediatric Liver Transplantation: An Asymmetrical War forAccess to Livers. Gastroenterology. 2017 Oct;153(4):888-889. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2017.08.054. Epub 2017 Sep 1. PubMed PMID: 28867276.
• Maiwall R, Sarin SK, Kumar S, Jain P, Kumar G, Bhadoria AS, Moreau R,Kedarisetty CK, Abbas Z, Amarapurkar D, Bhardwaj A, Bihari C, Butt AS, Chan A,Chawla YK, Chowdhury A, Dhiman R, Dokmeci AK, Ghazinyan H, Hamid SS, Kim DJ,Komolmit P, Lau GK, Lee GH, Lesmana LA, Jamwal K, Mamun-Al-Mahtab, Mathur RP,Nayak SL, Ning Q, Pamecha V, Alcantara-Payawal D, Rastogi A, Rahman S, Rela M, Saraswat VA, Shah S, Shiha G, Sharma BC, Sharma MK, Sharma K, Tan SS, Chandel SS,Vashishtha C, Wani ZA, Yuen MF, Yokosuka O, Duseja A, Jafri W, Devarbhavi H,Eapen CE, Goel A, Sood A, Ji J, Duan Z, Chen Y; of the APASL ACLF ResearchConsortium (AARC) working party. Development of predisposition, injury, response,organ failure model for predicting acute kidney injury in acute on chronic liver failure. Liver Int. 2017 Oct;37(10):1497-1507. doi: 10.1111/liv.13443. Epub 2017 Aug 2. PubMed PMID: 28393476.
• Ramana Ramya J, Thanigai Arul K, Epple M, Giebel U, Guendel-Graber J, Jayanthi V, Sharma M, Rela M, Narayana Kalkura S. Chemical and structural analysis of gallstones from the Indian subcontinent. Mater Sci Eng C Mater Biol Appl. 2017 Sep 1;78:878-885. doi: 10.1016/j.msec.2017.04.004. Epub 2017 Apr 11. PubMed PMID: 28576062.
• Rajakumar A, Kaliamoorthy I, Rela M, Mandell MS. Small-for-Size Syndrome: Bridging the Gap Between Liver Transplantation and Graft Recovery. Semin Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth. 2017 Sep;21(3):252-261. doi: 10.1177/1089253217699888. Epub 2017 Mar 23. PubMed PMID: 28758559.
• Reddy MS, Kaliamoorthy I, Rajakumar A, Malleeshwaran S, Appuswamy E, Lakshmi S, Varghese J, Rela M. Double-blind randomized controlled trial of the routine perioperative use of terlipressin in adult living donor liver transplantation. Liver Transpl. 2017 Aug;23(8):1007-1014. doi: 10.1002/lt.24759. Epub 2017 Jun 29. PubMed PMID: 28294557.