Apollo Hospitals, Chennai successfully performed a combined heart and lung transplant on the oldest recorded recipient in India

Apollo Hospitals, Chennai has successfully performed a combined heart and double lung transplant on the oldest recipient recorded in the country’s medical history. The department of Cardiothoracic surgery at Apollo Hospitals, Chennai performed this rare surgery on a 67 year old, the patient is now on the road to complete recovery. Surgeries of this kind are very complex and rare and over the last 2 years only one patient over the age of 65 received a combined heart and lung transplant, anywhere in the world.

The recipient, Mr.Hanifa from Kerala, was suffering from Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis with severe irreversible right heart failure (cor pulmonale) leading to a combined end stage heart and lung failure. He was completely dependent on oxygen and was put on the list for a heart and lung transplant. He was however admitted on a late evening with extreme breathlessness, very low oxygen content in his blood and a low blood pressure.

Dr.Paul Ramesh, Senior Consultant, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai said, “Hanifa is a strong willed person. He was clear that he would be put on a ventilator only if there was a prospect of a transplant and a possible, meaningful quality of life. He was fortunate that a matched donor was available within 12 hours. Thanks to the smooth coordination by the TNOS team of the Government of Tamilnadu and the provision of a quick transport of the heart and lungs by the efforts of the Chennai Traffic Police, it was possible to transplant both his heart and lungs in a smooth and efficient manner”.

The team that performed this complex surgery comprised of Dr.Paul Ramesh, Senior Consultant; Dr.Sunder, Senior Consultant and Dr.Madan kumar Consultant, Cardiothoracic Surgery of Apollo Hospitals, Chennai.