Chennai: Fully justifying Chennai’s sobriquet as the health capital of the country, three hospitals in the city have performed rare feat recently.
Doctors at Kauvery Hospitals performed a kidney transplant on a 35-year-old woman who recovered from Covid-19 infection recently. The patient from Madurai, came to Chennai for effective management of chronic kidney failure due to IgA nephropathy (IgA antibody build up in kidney which affects the functioning of the organ).
“The patient was diagnosed with IgA Nephropathy where the kidney’s functioning was deteriorating, requiring immediate transplant. The patient’s mother came forward to be the donor. All investigations pertaining to transplant were done and both the recipient and donor were found to be suitable. Meanwhile, the mother and daughter developed symptoms of Covid-19 with mild cold, fever and cough. Their CT reports were normal and hence were advised to be under home quarantine. After recovery they tested negative, and tests on their antibody levels showed good response in their response to Covid infection, indicating they were well protected from further Covid-19. We then went ahead with the transplant procedure,” said Dr R Balasubramaniyam, chief nephrologist, Kauvery Hospital, Chennai.
MGM Healthcare has announced that it has conducted an emergency liver transplant on to treat a 26-year-old Covid-infected patient who was battling fulminant liver failure. It is reported to be the World’s first emergency living donor live transplant for an acute liver failure patient with SARS Covid-19 positivity.
The 26 year old, a national level Kabaddi player hailing from Puducherry developed acute liver failure and his condition worsened due to sudden onset of jaundice. He slipped into deep coma within two days after being diagnosed with the disease and had little hope left when he was shifted to Chennai. The situation was further complicated when he tested Covid positive and the only positive sign was his tests didn’t show any lung involvement in the chest CT scan.
“We took up the challenge to do the emergency liver transplant bearing in mind the complicated nature of the patient’s health condition,” Dr Thiagarajan Srinivasan, director, Institute of Liver Diseases, Transplant and HPB surgery, MGM Healthcare said.
Gleneagles Global Health City has said it gave second life to Anitha (name changed), giving her the experience of motherhood with timely diagnosis and multi-disciplinary team approach.
On the 38th week of pregnancy, the patient visited the hospital with hypothyroidism and gestational diabetes for an elective caesarean. Minutes before she was taken into the OT, she exhibited ‘anaphylactic’ reaction that led to a sudden cardiac arrest. Immediately ‘CODE Blue’ was announced and a 25-member team of doctors and nurses including ER specialist, senior cardiologist, senior anaesthetist, senior obstetrician and neonatologist rushed to the ward and resuscitated the patient. The new-born’s decreased heart rate required immediate intervention and doctors got into immediate action, giving a second lease of life to mother and baby.