BENGALURU: The New Year began on a momentous note for cardiac patients
in Bengaluru as doctors in the city performed a live heart transplant on
Saturday.
Coordinating with several agencies, doctors placed the heart of a
21-year-old flower merchant inside a 29-year-old goldsmith from West
Bengal. Doctors at BGS Global Hospitals and MS Ramaiah Memorial Hospital
were involved in transplanting a live heart in an operation that lasted
two hours and 45 minutes.
On Thursday, flower merchant Balaji
and two others were on a motorbike when they met with an accident.
Balaji, who suffered a severe head injury, was rushed to hospital. He
was declared brain-dead around 7 pm on Friday. His mother
volunteered to donate his organs. The Zonal Coordination Committee for
Organ Transplantation in Karnataka identified a goldsmith from Hoogly,
waiting for a heart transplant for two months, for the donation.
“The patient is doing well,” Dr Anand Subrahmanyam, senior cardiac
surgeon at BGS Global, said. Not many patients are aware of the
transplant option. Fortunately, there is growing awareness, he observed.
The goldsmith was diagnosed with heart failure symptoms three years
ago, and was unable to work and support his family.
Doctors from West Bengal referred him to Bengaluru. He arrived two
months ago and was on the waiting list. Medical Team The transplant was
performed by a team of 15 senior cardiac surgeons, including Dr Anand
Subrahmanyam, Dr Manoj S P and Dr Bharath Dubey. A transplant surgery
requires a team of highly skilled surgeons, technicians, infrastructure
and diligent coordination, Subrahmanyam said.
“The patient
requires to be on intensive monitoring for rejection and infection, and
immune suppressive drugs are administered to prevent the body from
rejecting the new heart,” he said. The patient will be discharged in
eight to 10 days and will need to take extreme precautions against
infections, while also taking immune suppressive drugs for over a year,
he explained.
K U Manjula, Chief Transplant Coordinator, said, “We spoke to the
family and made them understand that they get no money for their
service. At 7 pm on Friday, we took a second declaration and got the
mother to sign papers. His heart, kidneys, corneas and liver were
donated.” As on Saturday, 1,477 patients were on the waiting list for
heart transplants.
Doctors look for many things, such as blood
group and body weight, to match before replacing a heart. A transplant
cannot be done between an adult and a child, and in multi-organ
infection cases (cancer and HIV). Bengaluru has helped two other
transplants in the recent past.
In September, a heart was sent
from BGS Global to Fortis Malar in Chennai. Another such transplant, to
the same hospital in Chennai, was facilitated by Manipal Hospital in
December. Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly
described the surgery as the city's first live heart transplant.