Doctors at Chennai's Fortis Malar Hospital Perform Heart Transplant on 2-Year-Old Russian Boy

by Dr. Trupti Shirole on February 3, 2015 at 5:53 PM

Doctors at Chennai's Fortis Malar Hospital have successfully conducted a heart transplant surgery on 2-year-old Gleb Kudriavtceva from Russia.

Baby Gleb was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy few months after his birth. His mother, Nelli Kudriavtceva, met doctors in Moscow and even traveled to Germany before coming to India for treatment on December 18, 2014. She approached Fortis Malar Hospital with her son's medical history. Just a day later, on December 19, 2014, the hospital was alerted about a couple in Bengaluru who wanted to donate the organs of their 2-year-old child who was declared brain dead by doctors. The organ was airlifted to Chennai on the same day and a team of highly qualified doctors conducted the transplant, which took six hours.

Heart Transplant for Children Using Suitable Donor Better Than a Perfect Match

A research says that children who receive a heart transplant as soon as a suitable donor is available have better survival quality adjusted survival than children who wait for a donor.

The director of the Cardiac Sciences Department at Fortis Malar Hospital, Dr. K. R. Balakrishnan, said, "We got an organ available on the December 19. So we airlifted the organ from Bangalore and did the transplant. The new heart was not used to pumping at such high pressure in the lungs, so we had to support it for almost seven to eight hours in the operating room and another ten days in the post-operating period, after which the muscle became thick enough to overcome the lung pressure. Now the child has recovered very well and will lead a normal life." .

Gleb weighed 7 kilograms when he underwent the transplant. As his health improved with each passing day, he now weighs a healthy 10 kg and is ready to lead a normal life like any other child of his age. Kudriavtceva said, "Before the operation I was scared but now I am very happy. The doctors here are like gods and helped me so much. I have started loving Chennai and will come back again."

Source: Medindia

Patients Must Remain Physically Active While Waiting for Heart Transplant

Patients who remain physically active during the waiting period for a donor heart for heart transplant have greater chances of surviving the period, a study said.

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