The Lung Transplant Surgeons at Global Health City, Chennai, part of Global Hospitals Group, performed a successful Minimal Access Transplant for Lung on a 61-year recipient. On November 24, 2013, Raja Babu Shah underwent the minimal access transplant procedure. He was diagnosed to have Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis, a progressive interstitial lung disease and shows poor response to maximal medical management. So he was on the waiting list for Lung Transplantation under the Cadaver Transplantation Program of Tamil Nadu since July 2013. He had been confined to bed and wheelchair for over an year.
On November 24, a suitable donor became available at Christian Medical College (CMC) Vellore. So Raja was offered a a minimally invasive lung transplantation, which would give him a near normal life without oxygen. The surgical team was headed by Dr Jnanesh Thacker – Senior Consultant Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeon, Specialist in Heart and Lung Transplantation for Global Hospitals Group, and his team consisting of Dr Nandkishore Kapadia, Dr Vijil Rahulan, Dr Govini Balasubramani, Dr Manohar, Dr Kalyan, Dr Rajgopal and Dr Sanjay Singh. Elated over the success of the country’s first minimal access transplant procedure for lung, for the team at Global Health City, Chennai, it’s what they are committed to do every day, deliver their best to save lives, demonstrating exceptional clinical capabilities, innovation and deploy most advanced treatment, technology and utmost patient care.
“Raja Babu Shah is 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 & Senior Consultant Pulmonologist, Global Health City.
Speaking to the media, Dr Jnanesh Thacker iterated, “Based on clinical evaluations and considering the age of the patient, we knew this transplant surgery is going to be a litmus test. We got together as a team to discuss what we need to ensure for best clinical outcomes and after that the decision was made to take the road less travelled – minimal access mode. We did a minimal access anterio-axillary thoracotomy with an incision, seven 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 saying, “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.”
Speaking on this occasion, Dr Ravindranath, Chairman and Managing Director, Global Hospitals Group applauded the transplantation team’s effort in saving the life of this patient with a novel attempt helping faster recovery. He also stated, “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.”
Referring to the two patients who had received successful lung transplantation the previous year, Dr Ravindranath said, “I am also extremely happy to meet Hanan Hasan and Fatima, both from Bahrain. As a foremost Transplant center and the largest lung transplant programme in the country, we are pleased to have successfully completed our tenth lung transplant at Global Health City, Chennai with this minimal access thoracotomy incision.”
EH News Bureau