Dual kidney transplant on patient under dialysis performed at AIIMS-Delhi

A dual kidney transplant on a patient who was on dialysis was performed for the first time at the AIIMS-Delhi, the hospital has said. The procedure was conducted by the AIIMS’ department of surgical disciplines and department of nephrology in collaboration with the Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation (ORBO).

The donor was a 78-year-old woman, who was admitted to the AIIMS’ Trauma Centre on December 19 with a severe head injury after suffering a fall, and later, declared brain dead, Dr Asuri Krishna, additional professor of surgery at the hospital said.

Her family consented for organ donation, he said.

”The challenge was that because of her extreme age, her single kidney would not have been sufficient for a patient on dialysis. Therefore, a decision was taken to use both the kidneys in a single recipient,” Krishna said. The recipient was a 51-year-old women on dialysis. ”She urgently needed a kidney,” he said.

The surgery was carried out on December 22 last year by the transplant team of the surgery unit. The doctor said this feat was being shared with the media now as ”we wanted to ensure the patient is doing well”. In the surgery, both the kidneys were placed on the right side of the recipient, one on top of the other, the doctor said.

”The procedure was complex because we had to place two kidneys in a restricted area. Usually, one kidney is transplanted,” Krishna said and added that the recipient had an uneventful recovery with both the kidneys performing well following the surgery.

”This one-of-a-kind surgery is a great example of using limited resources to bridge the huge demand and supply gap that exists for organs in India by using the organs from an elderly donor which usually would have been rejected,” he said.

The patient has been on follow-up since the surgery took place. She was discharged within three weeks of being operated, Dr Krishna said.

”We wanted to ensure the patient is doing well before reporting this dual transplant in the media,” the doctor said.