Breakthrough claimed in kidney transplant

 

Jalandhar, December 20

While traditionally, kidney transplants can’t be effected due to the mismatch between the donor and recipient’s blood types, doctors from the Fortis Hospital in Mohali have claimed that this has changed with the latest know-how and advanced technology.

 

Doctors at the hospital claimed they have successfully carried out ABO incompatible transplants, thus giving a new lease of life to many patients.

Addressing media persons here today, the doctors talked about the ABO incompatible transplants. A patient, Jatinder Kumar from Jalandhar, who had undergone the transplant, said his father had donated his kidney to him, despite their blood groups not matching. 

The team of doctors comprised Dr Priyadarshi Ranjan, consultant urologist and chief kidney transplant surgeon, who performed all these surgeries, a nephrology team headed by senior consultant Dr HJS Gill and attending consultant Dr Amit Sharma along with haemapharesis expert and head of the blood bank, Dr Apra Kalra. 

Dr Priyadarshi Ranjan has officially received the incompatible blood type kidney transplant training at the comprehensive transplant centre at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, USA, under Prof Robert Montgomery, who is also known as the “father of incompatible blood type kidney transplant surgery.”

Dr Ranjan said the number of kidney failure patients has been increasing across the world and kidney transplant is the only definitive treatment. He said to prepare for ABO incompatible transplantation, a simple blood test is performed to determine the amount of antibodies in the bloodstream. 

Most people have a level of antibody that is treatable. “In these complex kidney transplants, a procedure is conducted wherein the antibodies are taken out of the blood plasma of the recipient, called plasmapheresis. This ensures that the recipient can receive a kidney from a relative with a different blood type and it will be accepted by his/her body without being rejected due to the harmful antibodies,” Dr Ranjan said. 

“We have one of the best plasmapharesis machines which can cleanse all the anti blood group antibodies effectively before and after the kidney transplant,” he added. 

The next step in the process is to schedule kidney transplant surgery and give treatment for post-transplant to reduce blood group antibody if it rises.

Two weeks after the operation, the medication and treatment regimens are the same as for blood group compatible transplant patients, Dr Ranjan informed.