Dr Vandana Talwar, Medical Superintendent informed that while kidney transplant started at Safdarjung Hospital way back in 2013, this was the first time that a kidney transplant was conducted where the donor and the recipient had different blood groups. A 28 year old woman with AB positive blood group donated her kidney to her 43 year old husband, whose blood group was B positive . The kidney transplant was successful, the kidney parameters came to normal by the 2nd postoperative day and the the patient was subsequently discharged without any complications, informed Dr Vandana Chakravarty, Additional Medical superintendent in charge of organ transplantation at Safdarjung Hospital. The Principal VMMC & SJH, Dr Geetika Khanna appreciated the efforts of the transplant team.
The patient had unfortunately been diagnosed with kidney failure two years back and was on dialysis since 6 months.What complicated the entire transplant was that while the wife’s blood group was AB positive, the husband’s group was B positive. This brought in unique challenges since the husband’s body already had antibodies which would reject the wife’s kidney and lead to failure of the transplant, said Dr Pawan Vasudeva, Professor and Head of Urology. A process of desensistization was carried out to decrease the high levels of antibodies in the husband so that the transplant could be attempted, said Dr Rajesh Kumar, Prof and Unit Head Nephrology.
The transplant team was headed by Dr Pawan Vasudeva ( Prof and HOD Urology) , Prof Himanshu Verma HOD Nephrology and Dr Rajesh Kumar(Prof and Unit Head Nephrology). Anaesthesia support was provided by a team headed by Dr Sushil Guria. Dr Pawan Vasudeva, Professor and Head Urology said that all this was only possible due to the constant support and encouragement from the Medical Superintendent, Safdarjung Hospital Dr Vandana Talwar, Principal Dr Geetika Khanna and Dr Vandana Chakravarty, Additional MS.