Jehangir Hospital achieves advancements in kidney transplantation

Kidney transplantation success rates at Jehangir Hospital have increased dramatically as technology and medical science have advanced, with a low risk of post-transplant problems.

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The development of improved immunosuppressive medicines and better diagnostic procedures, including better preoperative immunological evaluation, which helps in stratifying the risk of rejection post-transplant, are now available.

Jehangir Hospital employs cutting-edge technologies and procedures for successful kidney transplantation, including:

Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) Matching: This is a genetic test that determines whether the donor and recipient share a compatible set of DNA. An HLA match, when performed correctly, can reduce the risk of a successful transplant by ensuring that the recipient does not reject the donor's kidney.

Cytotoxic Crossmatching: It is a laboratory test that determines if the recipient's immune system will reject the donor's kidney. The recipient's and donor's blood samples are mixed and tested, and if the recipient's red blood cells are destroyed, the recipient is likely to reject the kidney.

Immunosuppressive Medication: Even if the HLA matching and crossmatching tests are successful, patients must continue to take immunosuppressive medicines to prevent organ rejection. These drugs prevent the recipient's immune system from attacking the donor organ while also lowering the chances of infection.

Dr Shriniwas Ambike, Consultant Nephrologist and Transplant Physician at Jehangir Hospital concludes, "In today's era, with improved immunological evaluation and improved induction agents and immunosuppressant medicines, the success rate of both the living donor and deceased donor have improved over the last couple of decades and kidney transplant becomes the modality of choice for patients with ESRD."

Jehangir Hospital has expertise in doing 'ABO-incompatible (Recipient and Donor with different Blood Groups) transplants with a very good success rate. Patients can have an option of a SWAP (Donor Exchange) transplant too.

Vrinda Pusalkar, MSW and Transplant Coordinator at Jehangir Hospital added, "No human organ can be manufactured in a factory. Hence there needs to be a donor to donate it to an end-stage organ disease patient. Donors are of two types - Live donors and Deceased Donors. In the case of a live donor, he/she needs to be from the immediate family of the recipient who is medically fit and willing for organ donation. After completing the thorough medical workup and required legal formalities, such transplant can take place."

"In case of non-availability of such donor, a patient can register his/her name on the 'Zonal Waiting List' through the hospital. The wait for a potential donor can range from a few weeks to many months", added Vrinda. In all live transplant cases, donor selection is done with utmost care to protect his/her health. Hence donors can have a normal healthy life post-kidney donation.

Post-successful kidney transplant patients too can resume normal life within a couple of months. We have seen many patients getting married and becoming parents post-transplant, attaining a very good career Graf.

"Kidney transplants have come a long way in our country; Pune is not behind. We are proud to complete over 500 transplants in a renowned institute like Jehangir Hospital, which is a tertiary care referral centre for decades. I have been associated with the transplant programme almost since beginning as a vascular surgeon and have delivered successful results after transplant.

With excellent and world-comparable results, I am sure our team will keep on crossing milestones. This is possible due to the expertise in nephrology, transplant medicine, urology, and vascular surgery to tackle any challenging transplants," said Dr. Deepak Kirpekar Sr Urologist and Transplant Surgeon at Jehangir Hospital

"We are among the pioneers in kidney transplant in Pune, a multidisciplinary team of transplant surgeons, physicians, nurses, transplant coordinators, and social workers work in close collaboration with the Network for Organ Sharing and the National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) to help patients with the end-stage renal disease through kidney transplants enabling them to lead normal lives and this is main reason behind the success of this program at our hospital," added Vinod Sawantwadkar, CEO, Jehangir Hospital.

The hospital constantly enhances its scope and upgrades the infrastructure and equipment to stay at par with International Standards. This is backed by constant upgrading of the skill sets of the staff through various training programmes.

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