India News | Man, Dependent on Haemodialysis, Gets New Life After Challenging Renal Transplant at Delhi Hospital

New Delhi, Mar 11 (PTI) Doctors at a city hospital successfully conducted a challenging kidney transplant on a 33-year-old patient from Arunachal Pradesh who depended on regular maintenance haemodialysis and had a high risk of rejection.

Phuntso Tsering had undergone a kidney transplant 10 years ago. Later, he developed chronic allograft dysfunction which is caused by a rise in creatinine level after kidney transplant, making him dependent on regular maintenance haemodialysis, said Dr Sanjeev Gulati, the principal director of nephrology and kidney transplant at Fortis Escorts hospital in Okhla.

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A team of doctors led by Dr Gulati and Dr Anil Gulia, the director of urology and kidney transplant at the same hospital, performed the four-hour-long transplant procedure on February 11.

The patient was discharged on the eighth day after surgery. However, it took more than one year to plan and implement this difficult transplant, Dr Gulati said.

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Tsering had an HLA match of 3/6 with a donor and high antibodies in blood. HLA typing is a crucial step in renal transplantation.

However, there was a high risk of rejection as the antibodies were very high and not in an acceptable range. Hence the patient was asked to continue dialysis, Dr Gulati said.

After being refused by multiple hospitals, the patient returned to Fortis Escorts still insisting on a kidney transplant.

Following informed consent for desensitization and the high-risk procedure was undertaken, the doctor said.

The antibody levels were checked after four sessions of plasma therapy which still remained very high leading to doctors deciding that another four sessions of plasma therapy need to be performed.

Despite the second session of plasma therapy, the patient still had a high antibody level.

"Dialysis is not easily available in his state and the survival rate is also poor. Hence the patient was willing to take the risk of rejection," Dr Gulati said.

The kidney transplant team then decided to go ahead with the process. The patient underwent another four sessions of plasma therapy and this time the antibodies were found within an acceptable range.

"The patient has done well after the kidney transplant and a biopsy has confirmed that there is no rejection. If the transplant wasn't conducted, the patient might have lived his life for a maximum of five years," Dr Gulati added.

Bidesh Chandra Paul, Zonal Director of Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, Okhla, said, “This was a very challenging case considering the risks associated with it. However, the team of doctors led by Dr Sanjeev Gulati and Dr Anil Gulia assessed all parameters and conducted the procedure well."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)