Renal transplant gives new lease of life to girl with cardiac problem

A 23-year-old girl hailing from Bantwal received a new lease of life with successful kidney transplant amid the Covid-19 pandemic, at Yenepoya Medical College Hospital in Deralakatte.

The dreams of a young lecturer who was the sole breadwinner of the family was devastated when she was diagnosed with cardiac, renal failure and blood disorder. There was backward flow of blood in her heart which was making any major surgery difficult to be performed on her, said Dr Altaf Khan, urologist at the Yenepoya Medical College Hospital.

She was on dialysis which was making it difficult for her to attend work. Though she had visited various renal transplant centres, all rejected her case owing to the prevalent cardiac and blood disorder.

When she visited Yenepoya Medical College, she was evaluated by a team of doctors including nephrologists, urologists, cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeon and anaesthesiologists. She was transplanted with a kidney donated by her mother. After successful transplant, she is relieved of her kidney, cardiac and haematological problems and now she is back to work, said Dr Khan.

Nephrologist Dr Santhosh Pai said in this particular case dialysis was also difficult on the patient as her blood was getting clot. The renal transplant was the only option available to her.

“Transplant during the Covid-19 pandemic was a challenge as we had to isolate the patient completely to avoid any contraction with the Covid-19 infection.”

He further said that cadaveric renal transplant has come down drastically during the Covid-19 pandemic. People can register for cadaveric transplant at the Yenepoya Hospital. About 50 patients have registered so far. For registration they have to get a dialysis record, and other documents as prescribed by the government.

Due to availability of advanced medical equipment, more than a dozen successful renal transplant surgeries were performed during the past one year, said Urologist Dr Mujeeburahiman.

“Prior to the renal transplant of the young woman, we had consulted cardiac surgeons, cardiothoracic surgeons from various parts of the country to elicit opinion before going ahead with the renal transplant,” he said.