MUMBAI: Two cadaver organ donations in a row have facilitated a set of combined transplants across city hospitals. Besides saving multiple lives, the donations by the families of a 36-year-old man and a 44-year-old have taken the year's cadaver donation count to 28 in the city of Mumbai.
The zonal transplant coordination committee (ZTCC), which allocates organs to transplant centres, said the donations allowed Mulund's Fortis Hospital to carry out a combined liver-kidney transplant, giving a new lease of life to a 22-year-old woman. It also helped Parel's Global Hospital to perform its fifth joint pancreas-kidney transplant, saving the life of a 47-year-old trader from Mazgaon.
The transplant programme is showing signs of recovery after the pandemic. Donations are almost nearing 2021's count of 32 and are likely to breach 2020's tally of 30 shortly. However, it may be a while before the numbers reach pre-pandemic levels. In 2019, the city had seen its best performance ever with 79 donations.
One of the cadaver donations took place at Fortis Hospital, where doctors said the donor was a 36-year-old road accident victim from Ulhasnagar. His family came forward to donate organs. The liver and two kidneys, pancreas and cornea were retrieved. While one liver and kidney were donated to the patient at that hospital, another kidney and pancreas went to Global Hospital.
The 22-year-old Nagpur woman who received the liver and kidney was suffering from primary hyperoxaluria for 1.5 years. It is a condition where the liver lacks some enzymes, leading to high oxalate levels in the blood and the formation of kidney stones and ultimately kidney failure. "Only kidney transplants in such patients can lead to repeated kidney failure, whereas combined liver and kidney transplants cure this condition," said Dr Gaurav Gupta, chief surgeon, liver transplant & HPB surgery, Fortis Hospital.
The trader who underwent the pancreas-kidney transplant at Global is the family's sole breadwinner. He suffered from a rare form of diabetes, hypothyroidism and chronic kidney disease for many years and was on maintenance dialysis thrice a week. The patient was listed for a transplant in April 2022.
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