NEW DELHI: In a first for Safdarjung Hospital, a kidney transplant of an incompatible blood group was successfully performed on a patient.
Doctors at Safdarjung Hospital conducted the groundbreaking procedure where a 43-year-old man with an AB+ blood group received a kidney from his wife, who had a different blood group. They reported that the patient is responding well to the treatment and has shown no signs of complications despite having kidneys with different blood groups. Unfortunately, the patient was diagnosed with kidney failure two years ago and has been undergoing dialysis for the last six months.
The surgery, known as ABO incompatible kidney transplant, took place at VMMC and Safdarjung Hospital on February 6. Dr Vandana Talwar, Medical Superintendent of Safdarjung Hospital, stated, “A 28-year-old woman with AB+ blood group donated her kidney to her 43-year-old husband, whose blood group was B+. The kidney transplant was successful, and the kidney parameters returned to normal by the 2nd postoperative day. The patient was subsequently discharged without any complications.”
She noted that although kidney transplants began at the hospital in 2013, this was the first time such a transplant was performed with donors and recipients having different blood groups. The transplant team was led by Dr Pawan Vasudeva (Professor and HOD of Urology), Dr Himanshu Verma (Professor and Head of the Department of Nephrology), and Dr Rajesh Kumar (Professor and Unit Head of Nephrology).
Dr Pawan Vasudeva, Professor and Head of Urology, mentioned that the entire procedure was complex due to the difference in blood groups between the wife and husband. “This presented unique challenges as the husband’s body already had antibodies that could potentially reject the wife’s kidney, leading to transplant failure,” he added.
Dr Verma explained that such transplants are undertaken when organs from the same blood group are unavailable. He said the success rate of transplants with matching blood groups is higher than those with different blood groups.
However, the chances of rejection are higher in such cases.