Rare Simultaneous Heart, Lungs Transplant Saves Two Lives In Hyderabad

A Delhi-based man with post-Covid lung fibrosis and a heart patient from Andhra Pradesh will be able to start the New Year with hope for a better life, thanks to a team of Hyderabad doctors who pulled off a challenging double transplant surgery.

The operation at Hyderabad's Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) involved simultaneously transplanting, both, the lungs and the heart from a brain dead donor to the two recipients - 51-year-old Ramadevi, and a 59-year-old Virendra Kumar Mukim - at the same time.

The time-sensitive procedure had to be done within six to eight hours - till organs remain vital after death - and the feat was pulled by two teams of surgeons under the leadership of Dr Sandeep Attawar, Director and Chair of Thoracic Organ Transplant Programme at KIMS.

"Biggest challenge was that we had to transplant the harvested organs in two different recipients within six to eight hours. The good thing was that the donor and recipients were in same hospital. It helped us cut travel time to zero. This is a milestone in the history of the KIMS and the heart-lung transplant team," Dr Attawar said.

Both, Ms Ramadevi and Mr Mukim are stable and recovering in the ICU after their surgery on December 24, he added.

Families of the recipients have thanked the donor, the hospital and Telangana Jeevandan for their support in getting the organs.