Heart transplant gives new lease of life to 22-year-old

Manipal Hospitals, Yeshwanthpur, performed a heart transplant on a 22-year-old from West Bengal, who was suffering from advanced heart failure. The patient, Meghana, was suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy for the last four years and was not responding well to medical management.

An MRI scan showed her heart function at just 10 per cent and most of the muscle fibrosed (damaged), leaving no chance for recovery. After understanding her critical condition and taking consent from her family members, Dr Karthik Vasudevan, Senior Consultant - Interventional Cardiology, along with his team members successfully performed a heart transplant, giving a new lease of life to the patient.

Dr Karthik Vasudevan, Senior Consultant in Interventional Cardiology, Manipal Hospitals, Yeshwanthpur, said, "The patient was admitted in a critical condition. She had two admissions in two months. She was not tolerating even the heart failure drugs as her blood pressure was low. She was unable to eat properly and had kidney dysfunction."

Looking at her severe condition, the team of doctors listed her name in Jeevasarthakathe (Now SOTTO - a government body that lists organ availability and promotes organ donation), requesting immediate requirement of heart for transplant. Soon after her listing, the hospital received an alert on the availability of a cadaver heart donor.

Dr Mohammed Rehan Sayeed, Consultant Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Manipal Hospital Yeshwanthpur said, “A heart transplant is considered to be the most sensitive surgery, which must be done with great precision and accuracy. It is vital to be careful from the beginning, that is, since the time of retrieving the heart from the donor to the time it is placed in the gravely ill patient. Post-surgery, it is essential to monitor the vitals of the patient to rule out the possibility of infection. Doctors recommend follow-up care for the next six months to a year to rule out any possibility of infection or heart transplant rejection.”

The surgery was successfully completed in three hours and the patient was taken off the ventilator within 24 hours.