Woman gets fresh lease of life

Hyderabad: A 47-year-old woman, whose heart was replaced with a new one on November 1, was discharged in a stable condition on Wednesday. According to doctors at Care Hospital in Nampally, she was given a new lease of life after a matching organ donor was traced from another corporate hospital within the city. The donor was a 51-year-old female with intra-cerebral bleeding (when blood suddenly bursts into brain tissue, causing damage to the brain) that resulted in brain death. “Care Hospitals in Nampally conducted its third heart-transplant surgery successfully on November 1, giving a woman a new lease of life,” said Dr DN Kumar medical director at Care Hospitals.

On the occasion, Adilakshmi said, “I was given a second chance (after heart transplant), but there are many others who are still waiting. With so many people in need, I urge that ‘Jeevandan’ scheme be used to boost organ transplant from brain dead donors.” Adilakshmi from Nizamabad was suffering from a heart problem for the last 21 years. She managed with tablets for about 10 years. She was operated many times during the last 10 months at CARE Hospitals in Nampally. Adilakshmi’s health deteriorated rapidly, but Dr BKS Sastry and Dr C Narasimhan managed to prepare the patient for heart transplantation. The effort of the team led by Dr Sastry over the past two to three year has culminated in cardiac transplantation programme.

The operation was performed by Dr KV Rajasekhara Rao, consultant surgeon of cardiothoracic and transplant, and Dr G Ramasubramanyam and their team. Dr Kumar hoped that this ‘landmark event’ would make more people pledge their organs for donation so that patients dying of heart failure and other serious conditions could live. Dr BK Sastry explained that transplantation of heart and lungs was possible only in cases where the donor is ‘brain dead’. A robust deceased organ-transplant program could give a new lease of life to millions of patients with advanced degrees of organ failure.

Dr KV Raja Sekhara Rao said that heart transplantation is no longer an experimental procedure. It is a standard of care given to patients with advanced technology. “Organ donations will increase with the awareness of possibility of heart transplantation in the country. We extend our heart-felt gratitude to the Hyderabad Traffic Police. The convoy of ambulances covered a distance of 8 km in 7 minutes from the donor hospital to Care Hospitals in Nampally. A police escort vehicle was deployed to clear the route and to ensure seamless travel on both sides of geographical divide,” he explained.