KOLKATA: One of the renal failure patients, who recently received a cadaver kidney, died on Monday. The other two patients – the kidney and liver recipients – are recuperating. All three had undergone transplant surgeries that took up the whole of Friday night and went on till early Saturday. Mallika Majumdar (15), declared brain dead at SSKM Hospital, had donated the organs.
“Despite our best efforts, one of the recipients could not be saved,” said a source in SSKM hospital.
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Every donated organ represents a noble attempt to give someone else a shot at a few more years of life. Everything must be done to encourage and ensure more donations though there may be setbacks as there would be in any major medical procedure or surgery
The 24-year-old woman kidney recipient from Kharda was suffering from end stage
kidney failure. She, along with a 31-year-old male patient, underwent the surgery at SSKM hospital. A 44-year- old man from Hyderabad received Mallika’s liver at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital. The other two recipients are stable.
Doctors, however, said a transplant surgery comes with risks associated with any other major surgery. Rejection of the organ, or an infection can lead to the recipient’s death even in live donations.
“While the rate of rejection in live donation is about 10% in the first month of transplant, it goes up slightly to about 14% in cadaver organs. About 90% cases can be treated. But one death should not be a deterrent for organ donations,” said Dr Deepak Shankar Ray, nephrology head at RN Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences.
Dr Rajendra Pandey, vicechancellor West Bengal of University, who is also the nephrology head at SSKM Hospital said graft rejection can occur in all transplant surgeries. Some patients might also develop allergies to immunosuppressant drugs administered to them, he said.
Even as state nodal officer on organ transplant Dr Aditi Kishor Sarkar has attributed the recipient’s death to graft rejection, doctors at SSKM said they are still analyzing the cause.
“In 2016, the state saw five cadaver organ donations and transplants, the highest so far in the state. Four were successful. Why highlight one or two failures? Instead, let us talk about the successful cases and encourage cadaver organ donations,” said Dr Pratim Sengupta , nephrologist with Belle Vue Clinic. He cited the example of Tamil Nadu that encountered 10-15% failure during its initial days.
“Now, Tamil Nadu leads in deceased
organ donation and transplant in the country,” he said.
Organ donation activists stressed on the need for better coordination and a proper organ allocation system. They said a proper registry would help locate the most suitable recipient, increasing the success rate.
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