Chandigarh: In a case of rare surgery, kidney transplanted from tumour patient

CHANDIGARH: In what has been claimed by the surgeons as a rare surgery and perhaps the only one in the country, a Mohali-based hospital has transplanted kidney from a tumour patient. The tumour was successfully removed and then the kidney transplanted.

As a norm, doctors see tumour as a contraindication and do not perform such a transplant as it can be risky for the recipient. However, in this rare and complicated case, where a 42-year-old patient had no compatible donor, the only option was to try what had never been done before, claimed the doctors in the hospital.

Ravinder Sharma, the recipient, had been struggling for the last three years to get a compatible kidney donor. During his wife’s examination in a hospital in Ludhiana, it was found that only her blood matched with him, but she was diagnosed with a benign tumour in the kidney. “She was immediately refused as a donor. My sister agreed to donate but due to incompatible blood match, the doctors decided for ABO compatibility process, which further complicated my case,” said Ravinder, who works as a general manager in Markfed, Punjab. Ravinder had been shuttling between hospitals like Dayanand Medical College, Ludhiana, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, and even PGIMER, Chandigarh. “But finally, in Mohali my wife’s kidney was used. We were explained about the risk. And now my kidneys are functioning normally,” said Ravinder. He said, “The doctors in the PGIMER had asked us to come for fistula — a procedure for dialysis — but till date we did not get the dates for the same.”

The operating surgeon, Dr Priyadarshi Ranjan, said that, “There was no other family member who could become a living donor for him except his wife Rosy, who was rejected by several noted hospitals in the country as one of her kidneys had a 4cm tumour.” He further said that, “The major challenge was to stop the gush of blood that oozed when the tumour would be removed and then the kidney would be transplanted.”