Hyderabad : Century Hospitals, leading mid-sized healthcare provider in Hyderabad has given a new lease of life to a young man by transplanting a new heart in the patient’s body with the support from Jeevandhan network. The procedure was an expensive surgery performed at no-cost to the patient’s family under the Aarogyasri scheme. Dr. I Gangadhara Rao, Chairman, Century Hospitals, Dr. Hemanth Kaukuntla, Chief Cardio Thoracic Surgeon and Vice Chairman, Dr. Praveen Nandagiri, Director- Heart Transplant program at Century hospitals presented the patient and surgery details in the presence of Dr. Swarnalatha, Chairperson, Jeevandhan, at a press conference on Sunday at Hyderabad.

 

A large team of doctors including Dr Sunil Pandya, Dr Ramakrishna, Dr Susheel Chhabra, Dr Kian kumar, Dr Susmita Karnati, Dr Manu, Dr Santosh, Dr Koteswara Rao, Dr Ranjith Gattu, Dr Hyder khan, Dr Satyanarayana, Dr Rajesh, Dr Naresh Vadlamani, Dr Sarika , Dr MLaxmi and Ms. Ms Dileena and technical staff supported the successful heart plant.

 

Mr. Linga Swamy (29), a school bus driver by profession and a resident of Gundrampalli village of Nalgonda district was diagnosed with IDIOPATHIC DILATED CARDIOMYOPATHY (DCMP), a condition under which the heart becomes weak for unknown reasons and it’s ability to pump blood (normal ejection fraction is 65- 70%, and under this condition it was down to 25-40%) to all the organs gets reduced. As a result of this Linga Swamy started experiencing shortness of breath, and the situation could lead to multi-organ failure and affect kidneys, liver, intestines subsequently.

 

At advanced stage, the ailment cannot be treated with medicines, and Linga Swamy was one such victim who required his heart to be transplanted with a better performing one. And Linga Swamy lived with such a difficult condition for 5 years and required an urgent transplant. Aarogyasri (thanks to Telangana Government including heart transplant surgeries into the popular health scheme) came to the rescue of Lingaswamy who came from a financially weaker background. He was investigated and registered for heart transplant with the Jeevandhan. The patient was well prepared for the surgery by giving proper nutrition, physical training, psychological and social adaptation.

 

Linga Swamy condition was monitored on a regular basis and was advised to be ready for a heart transplant at a short notice of less than 24 hours. And in November this year, the procedure was performed successfully post a mid-night approval from all statutory and regulatory authorities concerned.

 

The recipient was put on heart lung bypass and on arrival of the donor heart in the hospital and having examined it thoroughly, the procedure was completed in three hours and 20 min, from the time of retrieval and completion of transplant (the process is called cold ischemia and the same must be done in under 4 hours for successful outcome).

 

The donor heart started to pump in the recipient’s body, once the blood supply was restored and was helped with mild doses of heart supporting drugs and pacing. The surgery started at 12:30 midnight and completed by 6:30 am (17/11/18). The patient was transported to transplant isolation room in the ICU for close monitoring of the vitals. He was also put on immunosuppressive drugs to prevent rejection of the donor heart, a challenge in the immediate post-operative period. His vitals were stable all through the 17/11/18 and was extubated on 18/11/18.

 

Linga Swamy health continued to progress and the heart supporting drugs were slowly weaned-off, as the native heart rhythm restored. The patient was transferred from the ICU to a regular room on day-8 and has been on intense physiotherapy and dietetic measures and has attained near normalcy for his age by day-15. And is now leading an activity life for his age. The patient was presented in the press conference.

 

Dr Hemanth Kaukuntla, Vice Chairman, Century Hospital, said, “Aarogyasri , has been helping people in the below poverty line category, in utilising the services by the corporate hospitals, for high end surgeries and medical treatments. A big thank you to Telangana Jeevndhan, headed by its Chairperson, Dr Swarnalatha, for her selfless services, in increasing the awareness for organ donation and also facilitating the donor and recipient hospitals in delivering the services  without any hurdles. Because of her and her team, Telangana stands second in the terms of organ donation, in a short span of its inception.”

 

List of Do’s for a successful heart transplant:

1. Choose the right candidate as a recipient
2. pre – surgical optimisation of nutrition , physical health.
3. Psychological and social well being- addressed by a consultant psychologist
4. Assessment of Donor heart.
5. Skilled retrieval team for effective retrieval , protection and transport to the recipient hospital.
6. Well trained recipient team with proper knowledge of pre- Intra and post operative care of the recipient
7. Communication skills and team work