AIIMS Delhi carries out second lung transplant in less than 3 months

New Delhi, July 30

A 50-year-old woman got new lungs at AIIMS here on Saturday, making it the second lung transplant procedure to be carried out at the premier institute in less than three months.

This is also the first time that lungs were harvested at AIIMS itself from a patient, a 36-year-old man who was declared brain dead, and transplanted successfully, Dr Deepak Gupta, Professor in the Department of Neurosurgery at AIIMS said.

The heart, liver and kidneys of the brain dead patient were also retrieved, which gave a new lease of life to four others, he told PTI.

AIIMS became the second public hospital in the country after PGIMER Chandigarh, to have conducted a lung transplant procedure in May this year.

The entire procedure of organ retrieval and transplantation, which started at 11.30 pm on Friday and went on till noon on Saturday, was made possible due to the effective coordination between the treating doctors, Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation (ORBO) coordinators, transplant team, forensic department, various organ retrieval teams, National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) and police department, Dr Aarti Vij, head of ORBO at AIIMS, Delhi, said.

“In majority of the cases in the past, lungs were not medically suitable for transplantation. But here, evaluation showed the lungs were in a good condition and thus they were harvested and transplanted in the 50-year-old woman patient suffering from interstitial lung disease at the institute,” Dr Milind Hote, Professor of Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Surgery (CTVS) at AIIMS told PTI.

Dr Anant Mohan, Professor of Pulmonary Medicine and Sleep Disorders at the institute said the recipient is under observation in the post-operative ICU after the procedure.

“She was waiting for the lung transplant for more than a year,” he said.

Amresh Chand, a resident from Uttar Pradesh, had sustained heavy head injury after being hit by an auto rickshaw on July 27 near Jaitpur here.

He was rushed to the trauma centre and was operated, but declared brain dead the next day.

A team of doctors and transplant coordinators at AIIMS, New Delhi, counselled his family members to donate his organs.

“It is very sad to see a young life lost like this. Amresh’s family has suffered an irreplaceable loss, but their willingness to donate his organs and light others’ lives bears testimony to the fact that goodness prevails even at the darkest of times,” Dr Vij said.

Besides lungs, Amresh’s heart was given to a patient at the Army Research and Referral Hospital through NOTTO, Dr Hote said.

His liver was transplanted in a patient suffering from liver cancer, said Dr Sujoy Pal, Professor in the Department of gastrointestinal surgery at AIIMS.

Of the two kindeys, one was transplanted in a patient at AIIMS, while the other was given to the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences through NOTTO.

“Despite best efforts, the patient could not be saved and was declared brain dead at 8.50 pm on July 28. We counselled the patients family and also we told them about the Roli Prajapati case and how the parents of the five-year girl, who was declared brain dead at AIIMS trauma centre, had donated her organs.

“After listening to her story, the patient’s wife an ASHA worker agreed to donate his organs,” Dr Gupta said.

All the organs, including lungs, were harvested at the AIIMS trauma centre, he added.

“The deceased Amresh managed farming back at his village and did a daily wage job in Delhi to make ends meet,” his brother-in law Mahender Kumar said.