TIRUCHY: A live renal transplant was performed successfully at Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Government Hospital (MGMGH) on February 10. It was the second such transplant done at the hospital, and the patient and the donor are doing fine, Dean Dr K Vanitha said. The 19-year-old patient was discharged this week.
Jeeva was diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease Stage 5, also known as end stage disease, about six months ago and was on dialysis since then. He belongs to Kanjanayakkanpatti, Manapparai, and is pursuing BSc. After a thorough medical examination, DME approval, and counselling, his mother Bhuvaneshwari was found fit to be a donor.
The last live transplant done at MGMGH was also on a 19-year-old boy. Dr Balamurugan, Associate Professor, HOD Nephrology, said that in such young patients, transplant gives the best results. When a patient gets kidney disease at 17 or 18, it is usually hereditary.
Jeeva had visited a hospital in 2014, and was diagnosed with kidney issues.
"The patient didn't go back to hospital after that. About six months ago, he developed breathlessness, high blood pressure and his feet and hands were swollen. He was then diagnosed with severe renal failure. We decided to go ahead with transplantation in this case, as the patient is young, and this would provide a good life for him," Dr Balamurugan said.
The surgery took about about four to four-and-a-half hours, the doctors said. Harvesting the kidney from the donor takes about two hours, and transplanting it takes about a little over two.
The procedure was done free of cost under the Chief Minister's Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme. The hospital has provided immuno-suppressant medication free of cost to the patient. "If a person is healthy, and is found that there will be no problem to their life if a kidney is donated, the person can be a donor. People can live with one kidney," Dr Balamurugan said.
The transplant was performed by a team of doctors, including Dr Balamurugan, Dr Prakash, urologists Dr Prabhakar, Dr Barani and Dr Ravi, anesthologists Dr Ilango, and Dr Sivakumar. The hospital started performing transplants in July 2021. This is the third transplant, and the second live transplant.