Brain-dead nurse's organs save three lives in Bengaluru

This brain-dead donor’s organs saved the lives of three. What makes it unique is that all three transplants were conducted within a span on 18 hours. The liver, heart, and one kidney were all transplanted on the same day.

Keerthi, 26, a nurse by profession was rushed to Manipal Hospitals due to cardio-respiratory arrest. She suffered hypoxic brain damage, following which she was declared brain-dead on May 2.

It was just hours later that doctors had to prepare themselves for a tough challenge. Three organ transplants were to be done, all in the same hospital within the golden period.

Four doctors Dr Devananda N S, HoD and Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, Dr Anand Shenoy, Consultant Cardiologist, Dr Vishwanath Siddini, Consultant Nephrologist and Dr Olithselvan, Chairman and Hepatalogist, Manipal Hospitals, worked for 18 hours to ensure that the transplants were successful.

Simultaneous transplant
According to doctors at Manipal Hospitals, heart and liver were transplanted simultaneously and this was followed by the kidney transplant. 

While the victim’s liver, heart, and one kidney were allotted to Manipal Hospitals, the corneas were allotted to Narayana Nethralaya and the other kidney to Victoria Hospital.
 A 34-year-old IT professional who was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy (a heart condition in which chambers of the heart increase in size and heart muscles progressively weaken) was the beneficiary of the heart transplant.

A diabetic with renal failure underwent the renal transplant and a 52-year-old bank employee who was suffering from end-stage liver disease underwent liver transplant.