Baby donates heart to another infant


Chennai: Two-year-old baby from Villupuram, diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy with severe LV dysfunction, a condition where the heart’s ability to pump blood is decreased, now breathes well. All thanks to the country’s youngest organ donor, a two-year-old baby from Mumbai, that donated the heart.

The transplant was performed by a team of doctors at Fortis Malar Hospital led by Cardiac Sciences director Dr K R Balakrishnan and Critical Care and Cardiac Anaesthesia – head Dr Suresh Rao KG. Commenting on the transplant, Dr Balakrishnan, said, “The surgery was challenging as the recipient was a toddler. So we had to sensitively balance everything to perform the transplant.”

“It is difficult to find a matching donor for pediatric patients. The recipient was lucky to get a donor,” said Dr Suresh Rao.