Belagavi doctors perform a rare kidney transplant

Doctors at CentraCare Super-Speciality Hospital in Belagavi have performed a rare procedure to save the life of a patient suffering from kidney disease.

The team has successfully performed the first-ever ABO-incompatible kidney transplant, marking a new milestone in the region, the hospital said.

Neeta Deshpande, medical director, told reporters here on Saturday that the patient had been given a new lease of life through the transplant. Both the donor and recipient are stable and doing well, she said. They expressed their sincere gratitude to the hospital team for their care and support.

The patient, who underwent a kidney transplant, is a 47-year-old man (blood group B+ve) from Hukkeri Taluka. He had suffered from chronic kidney disease for 12 years and had been on dialysis for the past four years. His wife (A+ve Blood Group) wanted to donate her kidney, but a mismatch in blood groups had previously made transplantation difficult.

Thanks to the availability of expertise, the ABO-incompatible transplant was successfully performed.

Anjaney Yadur, transplant nephrologist, explained that before the transplant, special treatment was carried out to reduce antibodies using advanced techniques such as plasmapheresis. The surgery was performed under the close supervision of the transplant and intensive care team. The transplanted kidney immediately started functioning with adequate urine output, which is a positive sign of success.

He said lifelong follow-up and medication are essential for a good quality of life.

The surgery, which lasted over four hours, was performed by a team of doctors: Avinash Odugoudar, chief transplant surgeon, Bhuvanesh Aradhya, Nazeer Mulla and Sunil S, under the mentorship of Ajay Sharma. Anesthesia support was provided by Srivatsa and Seemin. Post-transplant care was managed by Anjaney Yadur, intensivist Narendra Patil, nephrologist Deepak and a dedicated nursing team.

Dr. Deshpande said the transplant program was started in collaboration with ‘Urograft’, co-founded by Avinash Odugoudar and Bhuvanesh Aradhya. She announced that in memory of her father, KH Belgaumkar, the foundation’s CSR funds, along with support from philanthropists, will be pooled to make kidney care more affordable to needy patients.

Dr. Odugoudar highlighted that nearly 2 lakh patients in India undergo dialysis, while only about 10,000 kidney transplants are performed annually. There was a large gap between the need and availability of donated organs. Previous kidney transplants required matching blood types, but thanks to modern medical advances, transplants could now be performed safely even if the blood types did not match. He called on citizens to donate their organs and help save lives.