NEW DELHI: A former Army man got a new lease of life at the Army’s Research and Referral Hospital in south Delhi on Friday after a heart transplant. The 49-year-old received the heart of a former Border Security Force jawan, who was declared brain dead at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences two days ago. The ex-Army man, a Rajasthan resident, had been suffering for three years from dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle disease that causes the heart chambers to thin and stretch, with the increase in dimensions making it harder for the heart to pump blood to the rest of the body. He developed refractory heart failure, a condition in which the symptoms of heart failure persist despite medical treatment, said doctors. According to doctors, the patient underwent transplantation successfully on the intervening night of Thursday and Friday. His condition is stable and is being monitored by a team of doctors at RR Hospital. According to AIIMS authorities, besides the heart, one kidney of 52-year-old ex-BSF jawan Rakesh Kumar’s was used at the institute itself and the other was sent for a patient at Safdarjung Hospital. Both his corneas have been preserved. However, his liver wasn’t in a suitable health for transplantation. Kumar, a native of Firozabad, had suffered a fall while carrying out some electricity repairs at home on October 3. He was rushed to a local trauma centre which referred him to AIIMS. He was operated upon on October 4, but was declared brain dead on October 6. The organ procurement services team at AIIMS Trauma Centre, led by Dr Deepak Gupta, professor of neurosurgery, told TOI that Kumar’s nephew, who is a junior resident in the emergency medicine department at AIIMS Trauma Centre, played a crucial role in convincing the family to donate his organs. There have been 13 donations at AIIMS since April, the highest since 1994, claimed Gupta, who added that the entire team at the trauma centre was working together and had made major changes in brain death certification and organ procurement processes, thus leading to sustained donations.
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/delhi-brain-dead-ex-bsf-jawans-heart-saves-former-army-man/articleshow/94732855.cms