Doctors in Hyderabad hospital perform 3 double lung transplants in 24 hours

Hyderabad: In what could be a one-of-a-kind event anywhere in the world, a city doctor, along with a team of specialists and support staff, performed three back-to-back double lung transplant surgeries in a single day.

This was the first such achievement in Asia, the Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), where the surgical team headed by Dr Sandeep Attawar, successfully performed the surgeries in a 24-hour window between Wednesday and Thursday. The three patients who received donor lungs, were at an advanced stage of lung failure, and were waiting for lung transplants for months, the KIMS hospital said on Thursday.

While the first set of lungs were harvested from a brain dead victim in Hyderabad, the second pair were harvested at a hospital in Ahmedabad, and were transported to the city on a chartered aircraft. The first two of the three surgeries were performed in the second half on Wednesday. And a third pair of lungs were harvested in Visakhapatnam on Thursday morning, and transported to Hyderabad via air.

Dr Sandeep Attawar said, “ When patients wait for life saving organ transplant this wait can be excruciatingly long and painful. At this point, the availability of the matching donor organ comes as a blessing. As transplant physicians our responsibility lies in making this happen and being prepared for such situations.”

 The surgeries, he said, were made possible with the assistance of a team of 12 specialist doctors, supported by nursing staff. Seamless coordination across three states ensured the quick transport of the harvested lungs which were transplanted within a 6 to 8 hours time frame.