Pune: 87-year-old becomes oldest donor, donates liver and cornea

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An 87-year-old donor became the oldest donor in the Pune after the city marked its 14th donation since the COVID-19 lockdown. The octogenarian person became the oldest donor after his liver and eyes were found fit in the apnea test. With the 14th organ donation in the last six months, the senior citizens has become the oldest to donate organs in the entire Pune zone.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, organ donation took place on Friday when the entire city faced power disruption and network abruptions due to heavy rains. This proved to be a challenge for the zonal committee to coordinate for the donation purpose.

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Aarti Gokhale, Zonal Transplant Coordination Centre (ZTCC) transplant coordinator for Pune division said, "It was a historic organ donation as it was the 14th organ donation since May 2020 when the first lockdown was announced. It was specifically challenging as the entire city faced power disruptions and network issues due to heavy rains and we had to coordinate for two organ donations."

The octogenarian person was declared dead at Jupiter hospital and the liver and cornea were allocated to Sahyadri hospital, Deccan. The second donation was that of a 20-year-old male, who was admitted to Ruby Hall Clinic with severe head injury. The donor was an unmarried student and a resident of Wadki, Pune.

After getting the family's consent, the donor's heart, kidney, and liver were transplanted at Ruby Hall clinic, and the kidney, pancreas were allocated to Sahyadri hospital.

Also Read: Lung transported from Pune to Hyderabad in one hour saves life

Dr. Vaishali Solao, director of transplant ICU said, "The 87-year-old patient was admitted for unconsciousness three days ago. His MRI revealed a massive brain infarct and we realised his neurological outcome was poor. As expected, his condition deteriorated over the next 36 hours. On the 14th, we realised that the patient was brain dead and consented to donate his organs. Subsequently, we conducted the necessary apnea test to confirm brain death. Meanwhile, the patient's vital functions were maintained in an optimal condition by the intensive care team. After the second apnea test at 6:30 am on Thursday, the patient was declared brain dead. Liver and eyes were found fit to be donated while the kidneys were not found fit."

Dr Solao further said that age is not a concern for donors if the organ is found fit. "The oldest internal organ donor in the world was a 92-year-old man from Texas who donated his liver while in India an 88-year-old patient is the oldest known donor when his liver and kidneys were donated," Dr Solao added.

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