Chennai-based multi-speciality hospital MGM Healthcare has claimed to have performed Asia’s first bilateral lung transplant on a coronavirus-positive patient. Surgeons at the hospital conducted a bilateral (double-lung) transplant on the infected patient. According to the hospital, the patient tested positive for coronavirus on July 8, and only a small portion of the lungs was left functional.
The hospital in a statement said the 48-year-old man’s lungs were severely affected by coronavirus-related fibrosis and as his oxygen saturation slipped, a hospital in Ghaziabad, put him on the ventilator and subsequently on ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) support on July 25 for more than one month. Such patients are difficult to manage even in well-equipped ICUs (intensive care units). He was airlifted to MGM Healthcare from Ghaziabad on July 20.
“Initially we were in a dilemma when his case was referred to us. But we prioritised the patient’s overall health over anything else. We decided to proceed with the surgery on August 27. Our team of doctors and the other support staff took up the challenge and boldly stood by the decision to go ahead with the transplant without thinking about the risk to their own health and safety,” said Dr K R Balakrishnan, Director of the Heart and Lung Transplant Program at MGM Healthcare here, who led the team.
“As the patient’s transplanted lungs were working well, we removed the ECMO support. Now his clinical condition is stable,” Suresh Rao, Co-Director, Institute of Heart & Lung Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support said.
Across India, some 62,000 people have died due to COVID-19 till now, and, in many cases, state health authorities have said that the loss of life is due to delayed reporting by which time the lungs have suffered a lot of damage.
“Lung transplant may well be the answer to saving the lives of many COVID survivors whose lungs have developed fibrosis, a chronic condition that makes them a respiratory cripple,” Dr Apar Jindal, Clinical Director at MGM Healthcare, said.
In the recent weeks, there has also been growing evidence of COVID survivors reporting symptoms of lung fibrosis and cardiovascular problems, besides extreme fatigue, brain fog and giddiness, leaving them debilitated and vulnerable to strokes.
The transplant that benefited more than one recipient was made possible due to the donation from the 34-year old deceased, who was declared brain dead by doctors at Gleneagles Global Hospital in Chennai after intracerebral haemorrhage on Thursday, hospital sources said.
After his wife’s consent, the departed man’s organs were allotted to various hospitals. While Global Hospital Chennai retained the liver, the heart, lungs, kidneys and skin were donated to different hospitals in the city. The heart and lung transplant surgeries were performed at MGM Healthcare here.
His hands went to Monika More, a young woman from Mumbai’s suburban area lost her hands at a local railway station Ghatkopar in a train accident in 2014. BJP leader Kirit Somaiya supported her with getting electronic artificial hands from his social outfit ‘Yuvak Pratisthan’ in July the same year.
While More completed her graduation and started working at a local hospital at Kurla as a social worker, she subsequently registered herself for bilateral hands transplant at Global Hospital, located at Parel in that city.
Somaiya claimed that the cost of her transplant is borne by Yuvak Pratisthan and Global hospital. “The surgery was proposed in summer itself but had to be postponed after the coronavirus crisis. Finally, the hands were retrieved from the same donor and airlifted to Mumbai on Thursday, the Global hospital and more family decided to perform the surgery on August 27,” Somaiya said.
A hospital spokesperson thanked the donor family, donor hospital, Regional Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation and National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation for the timely coordination and allocation.
“It goes without saying that the support extended by Traffic Police and Airport Authorities of Mumbai and Chennai ensured timely transport of the organ,” the spokesperson added.
