Lucknow, Mar 31 (IANS): A man has got a new lease of life with liver donated by his wife.

The couple Rakesh Singh, 46, and Mamta Singh, 38, hailing from Deoria, underwent a living donor liver transplant at King George's Medical University (KGMU) on Thursday.

Both are doing well and recovering in the intensive care unit of the hospital.

Doctors of the surgical gastroenterology department performed the surgery, which lasted 10 hours, under the supervision of KGMU vice chancellor Bipin Puri.

On March 9, Rakesh came to KGMU's surgical gastroenterology department with yellowing of the skin and eyes. He also had tenderness and pain around the liver area and tiny red lines (blood capillaries) on the skin above waist level were visible.

On examination, he was diagnosed with liver cirrhosis due to alcohol consumption.

Prof Abhijit Chandra, head, surgical gastroenterology department who conducted the surgery, said, "Subsequently, the family was counselled about liver transplant as the only option to save life."

Counsellor in organ transplant unit, Piyush Srivastava said that the family was told that if a part of the liver is donated, the remaining would grow back to normal size in a few weeks.

Mamta, who accompanied her husband, agreed for donation of a part of her liver.

Team of over 40 doctors and nursing staff worked tirelessly for successful surgery.