Doctors at KIMS Hyderabad perform breathing lung transplant

Hyderabad: Doctors at the Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) Hospitals on Sunday performed what is claimed to be India's first-ever breathing lung transplant.

The transplantation (Xvivo organ perfusion system) was done in a middle-aged patient with end stage interstitial lung disease on 10 litres of oxygen support waiting since August 2021.

This procedure was performed in Hyderabad by Dr. Sandeep Attawar of KIMS Hospitals and his team on Sunday morning.

Breathing lung procedure can help in mitigating the ill-effects of cold ischemia time and improves lung function there by increasing the organ utilisation. This results in 30 per cent more donor lung to be utilised, benefiting more recipients who are waiting for lung transplant.

The idea of 'breathing lung' is to run the lungs through a device that cools the organ while it breathes, nourishes it with a substrate enriched solution that has antibiotics which wipe out small traces of infection. Cleaning of the air passages by means of bronchoscopy can be performed while on the machine as well as several tests can be done simultaneously to further assess and enhance the performance of the lung before it is cooled and then transplanted into the recipient, the doctors said.

"This paradigm is the cutting edge of lung transplantation and is part of the organ regeneration concept. We at KIMS Hospitals are the first to take this unique approach in India, and with this we could provide best results in the long term. Only a select few transplant institutions in the US, Canada, and Austria take this approach to enhance lung transplant outcomes," said Dr. Sandeep Attawar, Program Director - Lung Transplant program, KIMS Hospitals.

"Xvivo organ conditioning system is the cutting edge, state of the art system to improve organ function by perfusing organ with nutrient solutions and antibiotics to reduce injury to lung from cold ischemic transport in an icebox. It is also used to condition the lung with growth factors to enhance lung function and to reduce edema of the lung. Overall this results in a better long term life of the transplanted lung," said Dr Vijil Rahulan, Chief of Transplant Pulmonology.

"Dr. Sandeep Attawar and his team of top experts have once again established their supremacy in the country in lung and heart transplant space. By performing a highly complex procedure, they once again proved this is the best transplant team not just in India, but possibly in the whole of Asia. I congratulate the team and wish them many more successes in the times ahead," said Dr. Abhinay Bollineni, Chief Executive Officer, KIMS Hospitals.