Belagavi doctors perform rare kidney transplant

Doctors at the CentraCare Super-Speciality Hospital in Belagavi have performed a rare procedure to save the life of a patient suffering from a kidney ailment.

The team successfully performed the first-ever ABO-Incompatible Kidney transplant which is a new milestone in the region, the hospital said.

Neeta Deshpande, Medical Director, told reporters here on Saturday that the patient had got a new lease of life with the transplant. Both the donor and recipient are stable and doing well, she said. They expressed heartfelt gratitude to the hospital team for the care and support.

The patient, who underwent Kidney Transplant, is a 47-year-old man (B+ve Blood group) from Hukkeri Taluka. He was suffering from Chronic Kidney Disease for 12 years and was on dialysis for the last four years. His wife (A+ve Blood Group) wished to donate her kidney, but blood group mismatch had earlier made transplant difficult.

With the availability of expertise, the ABO-incompatible transplant was successfully performed.

Anjaney Yadur, transplant nephrologist, explained that before the transplant, special treatment was carried out to reduce antibodies using advanced techniques like plasmapheresis. The surgery was carried out under close supervision of the transplant and critical care team. The transplanted kidney started functioning immediately with adequate urine output, which is a positive sign of success.

He said that lifelong follow-up and medication are essential for good quality of life.

The surgery, which lasted for over four hours, was performed by a team of doctors- Avinash Odugoudar, lead transplant surgeon, Bhuvanesh Aradhya, Nazeer Mulla and Sunil S, under the mentorship of Ajay Sharma. Anesthesia support was provided by Srivatsa and Seemin. The post-transplant care was managed by Anjaney Yadur, intensivist Narendra Patil, nephrologist Deepak, and a dedicated nursing team.

Dr. Deshpande said that the transplant programme was started in association with ‘Urograft’ co-founded by Avinash Odugoudar and Bhuvanesh Aradhya. She announced that, in memory of her father, K.H. Belgaumkar, the CSR funds from the foundation, along with support from philanthropists, will be pooled in to help make kidney care more affordable for needy patients.

Dr. Odugoudar highlighted that nearly 2 lakh patients were on dialysis in India, while only about 10,000 kidney transplants were performed each year. There was a large gap between need and availability of donated organs. Earlier kidney transplants required matching blood groups, but with modern medical advances, transplants were now safely performed even when blood groups did not match. He appealed to citizens to pledge their organs and help save lives.