Wockhardt hospital Nagpur recently performed a rare ABO incompatible (within different blood group) kidney transplant. In one of the first such surgery to have been performed in Nagpur, such transplant is considered extremely difficult. However, the experts at Wockhardt Hospitals, Nagpur made it possible.
It is to be mentioned that in an ABO incompatible kidney transplant the blood groups of donor and the receiver are not compatible. Jagdish Kaware, (51) a wastepaper supplier from Nagpur was suffering from chronic kidney disease since last one and half years.
Although, his wife was more than willing to donate her kidney, it was a challenge as they did not have the same blood group. As a result, he had been waiting for his blood group compatible cadaver for years. Finally, he was given the option of an ABO incompatible transplant which he and his wife decided to go ahead with.
Organ transplant within distinct blood groups is considered challenging as an organ from a blood group incompatible donor is likely to trigger the recipient’s immune system to release antibodies. The antibodies attack the donated organ, considering it as a foreign body. To overcome this, the kidney transplant team adapted a treatment protocol to remove antibodies from the blood before the transplant.
Such organ transplants need tremendous post surgical care. Several extra tests have to be performed regularly to trace the attack of antibodies. However, recovery period of the donor as well as recipient is almost same as that of ABO compatible transplantation.
‘’This patient had been waiting for transplant desperately as he wanted to get it done promptly. Since he did not have a matching donor in his family and nowadays with the recent advances in transplant medications, ABO incompatible transplant has started in a big way in the country, I decided to offer him the choice, explained him about the complete procedure, which he accepted and we were able to do our team’s and region’s 1st successful ABO incompatible kidney transplant’’ said, Dr. Sameer Choubey , Senior Nephrologist, Wockhardt Hospitals. Nagpur
“This is the first time we contemplated successfully doing ABO incompatible transplant. This will open possibilities of transplantation for patients who do not have matching blood donors in the family hence have to suffer for want of a kidney” informed, Dr. Sanjay Kolte, Urologist.
Discussing the rare surgery Centre Head, Wockhardt Hospitals, Nagpur, said, “We feel proud and happy that we could contribute in better healthcare of our patient. This transplant of having a living donor with a different blood type will reduce the time on a waiting list for some people. We are obliged that we were able to contribute in the same in some way”.
Statistics indicate that 1 in 10 persons in the general population are estimated to have some form of chronic kidney disorder. About 1,75,0000 new people have kidney failure every year. But only 3-4% people get kidney transplant. ABOi is a successful method to expand the organ pool and decrease the long waiting times for the deceased donor transplants.
Wockhardt Hospital Nagpur has completed 150 kidney transplant surgeries in the last 7 years and was the first to do a kidney transplant in whole central India
Transplant team members include- Dr. Sanjay Kolte, Dr. Sameer Choubey, Dr. Swanand Melag, Dr. Bhau Rajurkar, Dr. Surjeet Hazra, Dr. Jeetendra Hazare and Transplant coordinator Dr. Bhavana Methwani
