Lung transplant surgeons at Global Health City here claim to have performed India’s first successful minimal access transplant for lung on a 61-year-old recipient

According to the doctors, the surgery was performed on November 24 on Raja Babu Shah who was diagnosed to have Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis several years ago. It is a progressive interstitial lung disease and shows poor response to maximal medical management.

The patient, who had been confined to bed and wheelchair for more than a year, was on the waiting list for lung transplantation under the Cadaver Transplantation Programme of Tamil Nadu since July 2013.

On November 24, a suitable donor became available at Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore. So Raja was offered a lung transplantation, which would give him a near normal life without oxygen, according to a statement by Global Hospitals.

“Raja Babu Shah is the recipient of India’s first recipient of minimal access lung transplant. He is also the oldest patient in India to receive a lung transplantation and his recuperation is going to be reduced with less pain due to minimal access method adopted,” said Dr Vijil Rahulan, head of department of respiratory medicine and senior consultant pulmonologist, Global Health City.

Dr Jnanesh Thacker, senior consultant cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon and specialist in heart and lung transplantation for Global Hospitals Group, who headed the surgical team, said, “We did a minimal access anterior-axillary thoracotomy with an incision, 7 inches long, just below the nipple. We ensured that the internal mammary artery is preserved.”

Dr Nandkishore Kapadia, senior consultant, cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon, Global Health City, added, “This was like a time bound mission shown in the movies, with the cadaver lung retrieval done at CMC Vellore, transported to Global Health City, Chennai, within a time span of 105 minutes, followed immediately by a four-hour recipient surgery.”

Dr Ravindranath, chairman and managing director, Global Hospitals Group, said, “I was pleased to know that the patient was off the ventilator on the next day and he walked inside his room on the third post operative day.”

Source: India medical Times