Fortis Mohali conducts first Deceased Donor Dual Kidney Transplant on 62-year-old man with chronic kidney disease

Chandigarh, September 18, 2023: The Renal Sciences Department at Fortis Mohali gave a new lease of life to a patient through Deceased Donor Dual Kidney Transplant, wherein both the kidneys of a brain-dead donor were retrieved and transplanted in a patient suffering from kidney failure. This is the first deceased donor Organ Donation case being conducted at Fortis Mohali and the first such case to be reported from a private hospital in Punjab.

Deceased donor organ donation is a laborious and technically challenging process and can only be conducted on a patient who has been declared brain dead. Brain Death is a condition whereby the patient brain has stopped functioning. However, the patient has a beating heart sustained on artificial life support system. As per the provisions of the law only a certified brain death committee can declare the patient dead after obtaining the consent from the deceased donor’s family. After brain death declaration various organs and tissues can be retrieved from the patient through surgical procedure as per the medical condition.

In this case, a 73-year-old male was presented to Fortis Mohali with acute hemorrhagic stroke on 2nd September, 2023. Despite the best possible treatment, the patient didn’t recover and became brain dead after 5 days. The condition of the patient was explained to the family after which they expressed their wish to donate his organs. A Brain Death Committee was subsequently constituted comprising of doctors from Fortis Mohali ( Dr. Amit Shankar, Dr. Abhishek Biswas, Dr. Harmandeep Singh Brar, Dr. Vikramjit Singh) and Dr. Arshdeep Singh (AIMS, Mohali) nominee of the state appointed by the DRME (Medical Education and Research department) Punjab The committee declared the patient brain dead on 7th September, after which the organs were retrieved by the transplant surgery team comprising Dr. Sunil Kumar, Dr. Sahil Rally and Dr. Iqbal Singh. In accordance with the organ allocation policy outlined by NOTTO (National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization), the details of the deceased donor were intimated to ROTTO with its headquarters at PGIMER, Chandigarh. It was decided, that in view of advanced age (60 plus) with history of hypertension, stroke and creatinine of 1.9 mg/dl, to implant both the kidneys in the patient. Both the corneas were donated to PGIMER, Chandigarh.

The recipient, a 62-year-old male was suffering from chronic kidney disease for the past five years and had been undergoing dialysis (filtering waste and water from the blood) for the past nine months. The Kidney Transplant Surgery team comprising Dr Sunil Kumar, and Dr Sahil Rally, Dr. Amit Nagpal head, team anaesthesia conducted a 17 hours long marathon surgery starting at 4 am and finished at 9 pm, wherein a dual kidney transplant was done in the patient. Post-surgery, the kidneys started producing urine immediately. After the surgery, patient is off dialysis.

Dr. Sahil Rally emphasized on the importance of having a deceased donor transplant programme. As with the rising trend of kidney failure patients in the country, the existing living donor transplant programme will not be able to meet the demand and the only sustainable solution is to establish the robust deceased donor transplant programme in the country. Dr. Anna Gupta told that currently only PGIMER, Chandigarh has an established deceased donor transplant programme in North India and with some anecdotal reports from the capital, New Delhi. Dr. Abhishek Biswas (intensivist) emphasized the importance of spreading awareness on brain death and organ donation in the general public. Dr. Vikramjit Singh Dhaliwal, medical director at Fortis Hospital, Mohali, expressed his gratitude towards the departed soul and the family members for this noble gesture. He dedicated the successful conduct of this transplant to the coordinated efforts made by all the departments of Fortis Mohali and ROTTO. Chandigarh.

Dr. Vipin Kaushal, Director ROTTO applauded the whole team of Fortis Hospital Mohali for starting the Deceased Donor Transplant Programme and conducting a technically challenging surgery like dual kidney transplant at Fortis Hospital, Mohali.

Bhavneet Bharti. Director Principal. Dr BR Ambedkar State Institute of Medical Sciences, SAS Nagar Punjab, said, “Organ donation is a selfless act that saves lives and brings hope to those in need. Unfortunately, the demand exceeds far more than the supply, and the waiting list continues to grow. It is crucial to bring out the awareness in general public about brain dead organ donation and encourage more individuals for this noble deed. I highly appreciate the decision of the deceased family for such a brave decision and passed the gift of life to another in need. We at AIMS mohali, will be training our emergency medicine and ICU doctors to help patients and families and encourage them for organ donation”