BENGALURU: A four-year-old child, who was declared brain dead after suffering from prolonged and irreversible seizures, gave a new lease of life to a 60-year-old man, who was suffering from a kidney ailment.
Sadanand had lost both his kidneys to diabetes and had been waiting for three years for a suitable donor.
While Sadanand was undergoing dialysis, it was vital for him to undergo a kidney transplant and the four-year-old came as his saviour after the latter’s parents decided to donate the child’s organs.
An en-bloc kidney transplant (EBKT) was carried out on Sadanand. EBKT is a procedure where both the kidneys are transplanted from the donor to the recipient — a common technique used in pediatric-adult kidney transplant cases.
“The difference in the size of the donor organs and the recipient body makes the surgery a challenge as the blood supply to the kidneys could shut off. In order to avoid blood clotting, we continuously gave blood thinners to the patient. Also, transplanting only one kidney would not have been sufficient for the receiving patient, who is an adult.
Therefore, we had to transplant both kidneys,” said Dr Govardhan Reddy, Lead Consultant- Urology and Uro-Oncology, Aster CMI Hospital.
It was also revealed that only about four such cases have been conducted in India so far and less than 10 in the world.
“I am grateful to the child’s family for their decision ... My visits to the hospital have reduced because I am no longer on dialysis...,” Sadanand said.