Doctors at MGM Healthcare perform first cross-blood heart transplant surgery on 18 months-old-girl

Chennai: In a first, Indian doctors from a private hospital in Chennai were able to perform India's first successful cross-blood heart transplant surgery on a one-and-a-half-year-old baby girl, an official said.   

"MGM Healthcare has successfully completed an ABO-incompatible paediatric heart transplant, crossing the blood group barrier. The one-and-a-half-year-old baby had multiple episodes of cardiac arrest before the transplant surgery. Dr KR Balakrishnan, Dr Suresh Rao KG, and their team handled the child cautiously, resuscitated the patient every time she had a cardiac arrest, and successfully performed an ABO incompatible paediatric Heart Transplant," hospital authorities said.

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According to the hospital authorities, a one-and-a-half-year-old child who was suffering from terminal heart failure due to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) was airlifted from Bulgaria to Chennai for possible further treatment.

On the way, over Karachi airspace, the baby suffered a cardiac arrest, was successfully resuscitated after 40 minutes of CPR, and finally landed in Chennai. On arrival at MGM Healthcare, the baby suffered another cardiac arrest and was resuscitated after 45 minutes of CPR with chest compressions.

The child was rushed to the operating room, connected to veno-arterial (VA)-ECMO to support the heart, and shifted to the ICU with the chest open. The baby miraculously woke up after 48 hours and was recovering from the insult of multiple cardiac arrests. The doctors were debating the further course of action of implanting an artificial heart pump, they said.

In the meantime, a donor heart from a 3-year-old brain-dead donor of a different blood group became available at Wadia Children's Hospital in Mumbai. The organ was allotted to this baby by the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), as there was no suitable Indian recipient for the organ, they further said.

The organ was accepted despite being of a different, incompatible blood group and having significant dysfunction in view of the critical condition of this baby.

The child was transplanted with the new heart and needed ECMO and support for several days after surgery for the heart to completely recover. Meanwhile, immunosuppression was tailored to manage the ABO-incompatible organ, they said.

The hospital authorities added, The baby has made a complete recovery and is thriving very well.