Lung Transplant Worldwide

Some times lungs get affected with diseases like Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD- related to smoking, bronchial asthma , air pollution etc.), interstitial fibrosis, Primary pulmonary hypertension. This results in the failure of lungs to allow transportation of gases-oxygen and carbondioxide through it. With this patient goes into respiratory failure –becomes breathless and often requires oxygen even at rest. Such people will not live long and their quality of life is poor. In such cases, one or two lungs can be replaced by good lungs from a brain dead donor. 10yr survival after lung transplantation is around 40%. They need to take immunosuppressant drugs life long. Dr Gokhale and his team did 2 single lung transplants so far. They did the first successful lung transplant in Andhra Pradesh on 8th of Septermber, 2012 on a 34 year old lady from Pune, Maharashtra. This lady with two small children, has been suffering for last two years from a condition called Interstitial Fibrosis- a condition in which lungs become stiff and cannot transfer oxygen into blood. She was bedridden depending on oxygen at rest. She was investigated and kept ready for transplant. On the night of 8th of September, 2012, a donor with blood group compatability became available and Ms Archana underwent right lung transplant successfully. She is recovering well, giving new hope to her and to her family (see blog for details). Very few surgeons in India have the experience of performing successful lung transplantation.

When heart disease is advanced, they no longer improve with only medications. This is called heart failure. Heart becomes weak . Patient will be breathless after a few steps or even at rest. They require frequent hospital admissions. This may be due to decreased blood supply to heart (coronary artery disease) or advanced valve problems. Then the only solution to such patients is Heart Transplantation- where in the weak heart is removed and replaced by a healthy heart from another brain dead donor. 10 yr survival is more than 70%. There are people who are living for more than 25 years after transplantation.