Bengaluru doctors give kidney-affected farmer new lease of life

BENGALURU: This 25-year-old farmer Suresh (name changed) was born with a congenital rare neurogenic bladder issue or dysfunctional bladder. His parents had to rush him to hospital every time his bladder was full and urine had to be drained out ever since he was one-and-a-half-years-old till he was 13. Later, he used a catheter to drain out his urine. The horrific effect of the procedure was that he developed Chronic Kidney Disease when he was 10 and he had to undergo dialysis for one-and-a-half years. Later he was told to go for a kidney transplant.

His 40-year-old mother donated her kidney and a team of doctors from Apollo Hospital not only transplanted the kidney, but also performed a bladder surgery. Now, he can pass urine without a catheter and lead a normal life, said Dr Arun Kumar N, nephrologist, and Dr Manohar T, urologist and transplant surgeon, Apollo Hospital, who treated him.

Neurogenic bladder is rare and is seen in hardly 2-3 per cent of the population. Suresh had developed the problem because of the consanguineous marriage of his parents. The surgical procedure involved relieving the obstruction in urethra. The kidney transplant was done without induction (a medicine given for suppressing the immunity before renal transplant so the donor kidney is accepted) with a proper scientific approach, which is also rare.

Live organ donations have risen by 25-30 per cent in the past five years. Now in the state, 45 per cent of the procedures are live donations and 55 per cent cadaver donations, Dr Arun Kumar said.