Fortis Escorts Heart Institute (FEHI), a leading cardiac care facility, conducted a heart transplant surgery under the guidance of Dr Ashok Seth, chairman, FEHI on a 16 year old boy, giving him a new lease of life. The operation was performed by Dr Z S Meharwal, director of cardiac surgery at FEHI along with a team of doctors including Dr Yugal Mishra, Dr Anil Karlekar, Dr KK Sharma, Dr Vishal Rastogi and Dr Sameer Shrivastava.  

The recipient, a 16 year old boy was suffering from a condition called Idiopathic Dilated Cardio Myopathy, an end stage heart disease with a poor heart function, and an ejection fraction of 15 per cent. He had been consulting FEHI for treatment of this disease and was advised heart transplantation when he came to the hospital two months ago with symptoms of severe breathlessness.

The donor of the heart was a 30 year old IT professional who died due to intra-cranial bleeding. The family of the deceased in Hyderabad took a noble decision to donate the organs and saved six valuable lives.

Dr. Ashok Seth, chairman, Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, says, “There are approximately 46 lakh patients who suffer from heart failure in India and 10 per cent of these die every year. This first heart transplant at FEHI represents a landmark event due to the noble act of organ donation by the young man's parents and the creation of a traffic-less ‘corridor of life’ by the police, through which the heart was speedily transported, from FMRI, Gurgaon to FEHI, in South Delhi. The successful transplantation was made possible because of the smooth collaboration between the clinical and administrative teams of FEHI, New Delhi, FMRI, Gurgaon and Fortis Malar, Chennai with clockwork precision.”

Dr Seth then added that the aim was to collaborate to airlift donor hearts from other cities for transplantation at FEHI and to bridge the availability factor.
He hoped that this landmark event will make more people pledge their organs for donation so patients dying of heart failures can live.

Dr. ZS Meharwal, director and coordinator, cardiovascular surgery, FEHI and chief operating surgeon for the case, says, “When we received information of a matching donor heart, the recipient was immediately admitted and prepared for the procedure, as our team of doctors went to FMRI Gurgaon to assess the donor heart. An Echocardiography performed showed that available heart had a good ejection fraction and the decision to perform the heart transplant was taken.”

Further he explained that the retrieval team went to FMRI and prepared the patient (recipient) at FEHI . The recipient was put on the heart lung machine as soon as the heart reached the hospital as the critical aspect of heart surgery is the time between retrieval and implantation, a crucial period when the donor heart is without oxygen. The total time, from retrieval to implantation took 100 minutes. The heart started beating soon after it was implanted. The patient was taken off the ventilator the next day and has made an excellent recovery. The patient is now on supportive drugs, in addition to drugs that will prevent infection and rejection.

Dr Avinish Seth informed that the majority of organ transplants are carried out with living donors, in the country. This limits donation to one kidney or a part of the liver. Transplantation of the heart, lungs, pancreas and small intestine is possible only with donation following brain death. A robust deceased organ transplant programme could give a new lease of life to millions of patients with advanced degrees of organ failure.