COVID-19 had severely damaged the lungs of a 48-year-old Gurugram businessman. (Representative)
Chennai:
Doctors at a private hospital in Chennai claim to have performed the first lung transplant surgery in Asia on a COVID-19 survivor, giving him hope for a better life after the virus severely damaged his lungs. The 48-year-old Gurugram entrepreneur, doctors said, is fine and his new lungs are working fine.
Speaking to NDTV, Dr. KR Balakrishnan, president and director of the heart and lung transplantation program at MGM Healthcare, said the patient had contracted COVID-19 on June 8 and his lungs were severely affected by fibrosis related to the coronavirus. In July, he was airlifted to Chennai on ventilatory support and underwent ECMO treatment.
“The entire team put their lives at risk from this surgery,” Dr. Balakrishnan said, adding that the patient had recovered from COVID before undergoing surgery.
“Both lungs are working well now and we have removed ECMO support. His clinical condition is stable,” said Dr. Suresh Rao, co-director of MGM Healthcare.
The lungs for the transplant came from a brain-dead donor at Global Gleneagles Hospital in Chennai. The donor’s heart was also given to another recipient at the same hospital.
Across India, some 62,000 people have died from COVID-19 so far, and in many cases state health authorities have said that the loss of life is due to the delay in reporting, at which point the lungs they have suffered a lot of damage.
“Lung transplantation may well be the life-saving answer for many COVID survivors whose lungs have developed fibrosis, a chronic condition that turns them into a respiratory disability,” said Dr. Apar Jindal, clinical director of MGM Healthcare.
In recent weeks, there has also been growing evidence that COVID survivors reported symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis and cardiovascular problems, in addition to extreme fatigue, mental confusion and vertigo, leaving them weakened and vulnerable to strokes.
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