Fresh lease of life for lung transplant patient

Nearly two months after the first successful single lung transplant was performed on an Indian at a Mumbai-based hospital, a city hospital performed the second such surgery. The patient, a 34-year-old woman hailing from Pune, became the first lung transplant patient in Andhra Pradesh, according to the hospital . 

Archana Shedge, a homemaker, was bedridden for about a year due to severe breathing difficulty and was living on external supply of oxygen. She was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis that leads to scarring of the lung. Initially, she sought treatment in Mumbai but the family was referred to Hyderabad, where she was told to undergo a lung transplant. 

Put up in the city for the last one-and-a-half month, Archana finally found a donor in a 55-year-old brain dead woman. She underwent a lung transplant on the right side during the intervening night of September 8 and 9. The rare surgery that lasted for 14 hours was performed by a 30-member team led by Dr A G K Gokhale, cardiothoracic and transplant surgeon at Yashoda Hospital. 

Speaking at a press conference, Archana's husband Rohit Das said that currently, 50% of his wife's problems had been corrected. "My wife could neither do household chores nor take care of our two children. After the surgery, she has stopped coughing and is able to talk. Doctors said she will be discharged in a couple of weeks," said Das, who runs a general store. The surgery cost the family around Rs 20 lakh. 

Dr Gokhale, who incidentally also performed the first successful heart transplant in AP in 2004, said the surgery was risky since the patient weighed 100 kg. He added that Archana has to be very careful in the first six months. "There is a 10-year survival chance for 40% of the transplant patients," he said. 

Doctors said that many lung failure patients are dying while waiting for a donor. "In the last five years, I am aware of four patients who have died waiting for lung donors," shared Dr Gokhale. But while there is expertise, there is a dearth of donors. Lungs of only non-smokers can be used for transplants.