India marked yet another medical success after Fortis Malar conducted a unique paediatric heart transplant to save the life of two-year-old from Villupuram. The transplanted heart belonged to a two-year-old boy who was declared brain dead by doctors. This medical achievement saved not just saved one life but six lives. The transplant was performed by a team of doctors led by Dr. K R Balakrishnan, Director, Cardiac Sciences, Fortis Malar Hospital, and Dr. Suresh Rao KG, Head of Department, Critical Care, and Cardiac Anaesthesia, Fortis Malar Hospital.
In February 2019, the two-year donor suffered irreversible brain damage. The family decided to donate the organs that helped save six lives, out of which four recipients were children including two-year-old Rohan (name changed). A team of doctors flew from Fortis Malar Hospital to retrieve the heart which was airlifted to Chennai later. Rohan was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy with severe LV dysfunction. However, despite medication, his condition did not improve. As heart transplant was the only solution for him to recover, he was registered in the State Transplant Registry for a possible donated heart.
“I am extremely delighted and thankful to Fortis Malar and the team of doctors since we never knew such options of transplant is available. I deeply thank the parents of the donor from the bottom of my heart and pray for the family,” says Rohan’s mother. Talking about the transplant, Dr K R Balakrishnan says, “This surgery was difficult and challenging as the recipient was a two-year-old toddler. So we had to sensitively balance all the challenges to perform the transplant to the child. We are humbled to acknowledge that this surgery is another milestone in the treatment of paediatric cardiac patients requiring heart transplants.”
The unique heart transplant was performed under the CM’s Comprehensive Health Insurance scheme which covered the entire cost of surgery and post-operative treatment as well as the requisite medication for a period of one year.
India’s First
On December 19, 2014, doctors in Chennai performed a successful ‘India’s first’ paediatric heart transplant on a two-year-nine-months-old Russian baby boy. The transplanted heart belonged to a two-year-old boy who was declared brain dead by doctors at Manipal Hospital in Bengaluru.
In the past..
In June 2018, heart transported 323 km in 94 minutes, transplanted into a 4-year-old girl. The live heart was transported from Aurangabad to Mumbai, a distance of 323.5 km, in one hour and thirty-four minutes and was successfully transplanted into a four-year-old girl.