The age old dictum – never give up despite all odds – especially when you can save a life has miraculously proven true for a noted urology transplant surgeon from the Chandigarh region. He has defied established medical science to repair a kidney after removing a malignant tumour and successfully transplant the residual organ onto a related patient of chronic renal failure who had lost all hope of survival. Presenting before media persons on Tuesday the husband-wife patient duo involved, Dr Priyadarshi Ranjan, Senior Consultant in Urology, Robotics and Kidney Transplant at Fortis Hospital, Mohali, claimed that this is perhaps the first such case in the world and has shattered previously held medical belief that kidneys with tumour are not to be considered for purpose of transplantation.
Sangrur resident Ravinder Sharma (42), General Manager with Punjab Markfed, who has been suffering from chronic renal failure and intermittently been on medication and dialysis for the last more than two years and shuttling between hospitals, was eventually advised kidney transplant for survival. His wife Rosy, who was found to be the only suitable donor in the family with their blood group O+ve matching, was, on medical investigation, diagnosed with a four-cm tumour in one of her kidneys. So far medical science had shunned even considering tumour bearing kidney for transplant. But after getting a CT scan conducted on the wife, weighing the risks and deriving courage from the confidence reposed in him by the family, Dr Ranjan decided to take the plunge into unchartered territory to save a man staring at near certain death.
Photos By : Life In Chandigarh
And, four months after Rosy’s ailing kidney was harvested, repaired and reconstructed after removing the malignant tumour, and transplanted onto Ravinder, both husband and wife are back to their normal life. Ravinder, who said he had not slept for months after being told that the only suitable donor kidney, that of his wife, could not be transplanted onto him, claimed that he was feeling ten times fitter than he ever felt before being diagnosed with chronic renal failure. “I am now a regular at the gym. I walk and run daily and travel miles every day to and from work. It is as if I am still living a dream, from a hopeless situation to a life full of fun and positive outcomes.”
Says Dr Ranjan, who is preparing to present the case at the next American Transplant Congress scheduled to be held in June next year at Boston, Massachusetts, and send it for publication in prestigious medical journals, said “One big take away from this case is that never out rightly reject a situation on which solely rests the survival of a patient. Do your best, and leave the rest to God. In this case, I believe, all of us, the medical team and the family, were working together for God.”
Dr Ranjan highlighted that “such procedure requires high level of skill and expertise. The most critical consideration was suppression of bleeding, which could have been profuse considering that millions of micro vessels are attached to the kidney. Then there was danger of urine leaking and recurrence of malignancy. Fortunately, we have been able to achieve a good outcome in this patient,” he added.
