KOLKATA: When Sudipta Mandal’s kidney started to fail for the third time in 16 years, the family knew that only another transplant could save the 32-year-old. But with no matching donor in her immediate family, time was running out for the
Haldia resident. That is when the doctor who had conducted Sudipta’s second surgery suggested an ABO incompatible (non-matching) transplant since her mother was willing to donate.
On June 4, Mandal underwent surgery at
Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences (RTIICS), the only hospital in state that conducts ABO incompatible transplant — where donor and recipient have different blood groups.
“I went back to Dr V V Lakshminarayan, who had conducted my previous transplant surgery at
Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals. He suggested we approach RTIICS for an ABO incompatible transplant,” Mandal said.
While Mandal has O positive blood, her mother Krishna is B positive. She was admitted two-and-a-half weeks before the transplant to undergo the procedure of removing the antigens from her body so it could accommodate the organ.
“If there is a willing donor in the family, blood mismatch is not a barrier in renal transplant any more. This will save time and remove the legal hurdles of procuring the organ from unrelated living donors,” said Dr Deepak Shakar Ray,
nephrology head at RTIICS.
Mandal was discharged from the hospital on Friday.
“With the kind of quality medications available and proper post-transplant care, the result of ABO incompatible is as good as compatible transplants,” said Ray.
In April 2013, the hospital conducted the first ABO incompatible transplant on a 28-year-old man. Since then, it has has conducted 112 such surgeries.
Sudipta mandal in hospital