INVC NewsNew Delhi,
The donor, a 58 year old man, suffered a brain hemorrhage and was rushed to a local hospital. The patient was referred to Fortis Memorial Research Institute (FMRI) when the doctors at a nearby hospital failed to revive him. The heart reached the recipient in just 27 minutes 56 seconds and the surgical procedure for the transplant took four hours for completion.
Oshin Goyal is a young girl at 23 years of age and had been suffering from restrictive cardio myopathy since the last nine years. She initially had swelling of her feet and legs and gradually developed worsening breathlessness, abdomen and face. she was diagnosed with a rare cardiac condition called Restrictive Cardiomyopathy and was treated at our heart failure centre.
Restrictive cardiomyopathy is a rarest form of cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the walls of the lower chambers of the heart (the ventricles) are abnormally rigid and lack the flexibility to expand as the ventricles fill with blood. The heart is, therefore, restricted from stretching and filling with blood properly, eventually, leading to heart failure. As a consequence of poor pumping of the heart, adequate amount of oxygen does not reach the various body parts and the body begins retaining high levels of water. Organs like the lungs, abdomen and veins fill up with water that leads to an swelling of the body. There are no drugs that can reverse or control this condition. Even temporary devices are not available for Restrictive Cardiomyopathy. So she was kept on our transplant recipient list.
Dr. Z S Meharwal, Director & Coordinator, Cardiovascular Surgery Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, said, “Even with the huge challenge we had on our hands as she had been bed-ridden for the last four months and an extremely weak heart we were determined to make her live. She was at death’s door and pulling her back from the brink put a big responsibility in our hands. She has recovered well and continuing to recover further. We are really happy to see her on her feet and enjoy the life again. We are ready to help more and more transplant patients who are suffering from end stage heart failure and have no hope.
Dr. Vishal Rastogi, Head, Heart Failure Program, Fortis Escorts Heart Institute said, “This young patient who has undergone the transplant had very little time to live without transplant. After the surgery it is equally our responsibility to hold hands with her to manage her heart to the best of our abilities and this is our area of specialization. We take pride in having established ourselves as one of the very few Heart Transplant centres in India providing end to end advanced care for failing hearts.”
Dr. Ashok Seth, Chairman, Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, said, “We have worked tirelessly to deliver the highest excellence in cardiac care and advanced treatments to our people in India for many years. With our second successful heart transplant on an extremely ill young lady who had only days to live , we have established ourselves as one of the very few Heart Transplant centres in India providing end to end advanced care for failing hearts.”
Dr. Somesh Mittal, Zonal Director, Fortis Escorts Heart Institute said, “India is witnessing over 3 million deaths in a year due to cardiovascular diseases making India a likely ‘Heart Disease Capital of the World’. We are proud to be ranked as India’s best private healthcare hospital in Cardiac care, performing more than 25,000 procedures annually. With the success we have achieved with this heart transplant we have again set an example of the highest levels of skills and expertise our doctors possess.”
Heart transplantation has made great strides over the years. Today, more than 85 percent of heart recipients will live at least an additional year and more than 70 percent will live five more years. However, patients continue to face a lengthy waiting list to receive a donor heart. There is a huge disparity between the number of patients needing transplants and the number of procedures being performed. This has sharply brought into focus the need for creating more awareness on the noble act of donating organs. India enjoys the dubious reputation of having the maximum number of road accidents annually in the world. According to a survey by the WHO, 60 % of the deaths in road accidents are of people in the age group of 15 – 44 years. This constitutes young and healthy people and organ donation by their family members can go a long in bridging the gap between the organs
required and organs received. No doubt, this noble act can save many, many lives that are lost due to non-availability of organ donors. (Ref. SaveLife Foundation.org).
When spoken with, Oshin Goyal tearfully thanked the doctors and the donor’s family and said, “I do not have adequate words of gratitude and I am really grateful to the family for taking such a noble decision to gift my life back to me. I am now looking forward to taking charge of my life and winning over any challenge life sends me.”
