Narayana Health City conducts 1st ‘heart and lungs’ transplant on a single recipient
S Singh
68 year old man from Bangalore, got a new life as he underwent heart and lungs transplant at Narayana Health City, Bangalore. The donor is a 24yr old male from Bangalore who met with a road accident. He was admitted at City Hospital. Doctors declared him ‘Brain Dead’ and the family consented in the presence of Jeevasaarthakathe for organ donation to save many lives.
The recipient, Mr. Kasim Shariff, retired from Central Govt Services was first diagnosed with age related lung disease in 2016 in a city hospital and he was on a routine treatment for his medical condition. His condition eventually deteriorated further and he was diagnosed with End Stage Lung Disease for which lung transplant was the only solution. His search for quality treatment brought him to Narayana Health City, Bangalore, 6 months ago. When Narayana Health doctors conducted full body check-up, he was also diagnosed with severe Coronary Artery Disease. As his health condition was not suitable for Bypass Surgery, the patient was registered at the state nodal agency ‘Jeevasaarthakathe’ in Nov’18 for Heart and Lungs.
Speaking about the case Dr. Julius Punnen Senior Consultant, Cardiothoracic and Transplant Surgeon at Narayana Health City said, ‘Heart and lungs function in tandem to supply and deliver oxygen to the rest of the body, which makes this transplant more complicated than single organ transplant. For this transplant organs were retrieved as a bloc and transplanted to the recipient’s body. Such requirements and conditions are rare in our country. The surgery is successful and the patient is responding to the treatment positively.’
‘The standard window period for the donor organs is 4 hours. Bangalore Traffic Police supported us with Green Corridor, and the organs were transported within 40 mins, travelling a 62 kms stretch. Without their support, this transplant would not have been possible. Lung transplant is complicated, risky and the chances of infections are higher and in this case we were doing bloc transplant which made the surgery more complex. The patient will be under observation in ITU for next few days to avoid any complications.’ said Dr. Basha Khan, Senior Consultant Pulmonology/Intensive Care and Medical Director-Lung Transplant, Narayana Health City.
Sharing her experience, patients wife said, ‘My husband has been dealing with serious health concerns from past three years and things got more complicated in the last couple of months. We went to so many hospitals for right diagnosis but our efforts were mostly in vein. I am grateful we came to Narayana Health City for advise otherwise we might have lost him due to lack of knowledge of his heart condition. We are lucky that within three months of registration at Jeevasaarthakathe we found a matching donor. Team of doctors and administrative staff at Narayana Health City have been extremely helpful and supportive to my husband and my family.’
The heart and lungs retrieval and transplant was performed by Dr. Julius Punnen- Senior Consultant Cardiothoracic and Transplant Surgeon, Dr. Varun Shetty- Consultant Cardiothoracic and Transplant Surgeon, Dr. Bagirath Raghuraman, Senior Consultant, Program Director Heart Transplant, Dr. Vijay C L, Consultant – Thoracic Surgery, Dr. Govardhan Reddy Associate Consultant – Cardiothoracic Surgery, Dr. Inaythulla Khan, Associate Consultant – Cardiothoracic Surgery. Team of Physicians led by Dr. Basha Khan - Senior Consultant Pulmonology/Intensive Care and Medical Director - Lung Transplant, Dr. Syed Tousheed - Consultant Pulmonology and Dr. Murali Mohan Senior Consultant – Pulmonology, all at Narayana Health City, Bangalore
