Sweden D'Souza is Mumbai's first minor to get a heart transplant; the organ was flown in from Indore in Madhya Pradesh making it the first ever organ transplant between the two states
Exactly four months after Mumbai witnessed its first-ever successful heart transplant, city doctors pushed the envelope a little further yesterday, giving 16-year-old Sweden D’Souza from Vikhroli a new lease of life in the city’s first successful transplant on a teenager.
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Also read: Green corridor ensures first ever inter-state heart transplant in one and half hour
Not only has the surgery opened up a new interstate organ exchange channel between Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh (where the heart came from), but it will also come as a ray of hope for hundreds of paediatric patients similarly waiting for cardiac transplants. This case was also a first for MP, where a heart donation had never been carried out before.
Also read: Mumbai cops' 'Green Corridor' helps transport heart 20 km in just 18 mins
The heart was brought here within 1 hour and 56 minutes, covering a distance of 546 km between Choithram Hospital in Indore and Fortis Hospital in Mulund.
Representational picture
The heart came from the cadaver of a 20-year-old woman who had collapsed after an epileptic fit on Friday. Around 10 am the next day, she was declared brain dead at MGM medical college and hospital, Indore. “The patient had a history of epilepsy and fell down during a fit. She suffered a severe head injury that put her in a comatose state,” said Dr Pradeep Salgia, head of the hospital’s Nephrology department.
Also read: Green corridor helps heart travel 22 kms in just 39 minutes for successful transplant
The woman’s family was asked for permission to carry out cadaver organ donation, and they readily agreed. The body was moved to Choithram hospital, a facility well known for renal transplants, but it was then learnt that her kidneys weren’t suitable for transplant. However, her other organs could be harvested.
The zonal transplant committees of the two states and Chennai NGO Muskaan commenced a channel of communication with Mulund’s Fortis Hospital, where two paediatric patients were already on the cardiac transplant waiting list. Test results confirmed that the donor’s blood group and weight were A+ and 35-40 kg — a match for 16-year-old Sweden. She needed immediate transplant as her heart had severely deteriorated due to dilated cardiomyopathy. Fortis Hospital’s head of cardiac surgery, Dr Anvay Mulay rushed to harvest the donor heart in Indore, which then began its journey to Mumbai at 7.11 am (see ‘Timeline’).
Upon arrival in Mumbai, the heart was rushed to Mulund through a Green Corridor laid out from the domestic airport (Gate No 8) to Military Road — Santacruz Chembur Link Road — Chheda Nagar to Eastern Express Highway — Airoli Junction and finally to Fortis Hospital, Mulund). The heart then went straight into the waiting hands of Dr Vijay Agarwal, head of Paediatric Cardiac Surgery, who became the first surgeon to undertake a paediatric cardiac transplant in Mumbai.
“This interstate transplant is indeed a breakthrough; with the channel opening up for PaedCard heart transplants, these little angels now have a ray of hope. This success story will help young patients suffering from end-stage organ failure. The surgery has been successfully concluded; the patient is stable and will be kept under observation for the next 48-72 hours,” said Dr Agarwal.
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