63-year-old male from Bihar undergoes heart transplant, receives new lease of life

The heart was harvested from a 15-year-old male, a resident of Bengaluru

A team of doctors, led by Dr ZS Meharwal, Director, Cardio Vascular Surgery, Fortis Escorts Heart Institute (FEHI) performed FEHI’s 10th heart transplant on a 63-year-old male from Bihar, who had been suffering from heart failure. The heart had been harvested from a 15-year-old male, a resident of Bengaluru, who had been declared brain dead at Fortis Hospital Bangalore. The heart was flown from Bengaluru to FEHI.

Once the donor heart was available, FEHI’s Heart Failure Clinic team flew to Bengaluru to retrieve the heart. A green corridor was created from the Bengaluru Hospital to the Bengaluru Airport, covering a distance of 45 kilometres in 40 minutes.

According to Dr Vishal Rastogi, Head, Heart Failure Program, FEHI the 63-year-old male, was diagnosed with DCMP (Dilated Cardiomyopathy) EF-20% and had been admitted to FEHI multiple times with features of heart failure. He was suggested for Advance Heart Failure Treatment (runs under Dr Vishal Rastogi, Head, Heart Failure Program) at FEHI.

Speaking on the condition of the patient, Dr Z S Meharwal, Director, Cardio Vascular Surgery, FEHI said, “A heart transplant is a critical surgery where timing is a key factor. We have a window period of five hours in which we had to retrieve the heart from Bengaluru, transport it to FEHI Delhi and performed the heart transplant surgery. Our retrieval team coordinated very closely with transplant team at FEHI. We are grateful to NOTTO for their continuous support for organ donation and transplant program. We are also grateful for the immense support received from Traffic police of Bengaluru, Delhi, Airport Authority of India and Airlines to minimise the transport time.”

Dr Kousar Ali Shah, Zonal Director, FEHI, said, “Our first heart transplant took place in January 2015. Over the past three and a half years, we have come a long way. It is a complicated process, which involves co – ordination and synchronisation with different stakeholders. We receive support from NOTTO, our clinicians and nursing staff, the police and traffic authorities – all who play an imperative role in making each transplant a reality. As of today, we have a team of almost 40 people under our “Advanced Heart Failure” programme, who work on protocol from heart retrieval to heart transplant.”