The Department of Nephrology has many firsts to its credit in the field of kidney transplants over the last 30 years. Kidney transplants are performed when the patient suffers from irreversible damage to both Kidneys. Chronic Glomerular diseases , Diabetes, Hypertension and familial kidney diseases are some of the common causes of End Stage Kidney Disease. At this stage of the disease , Renal Replacement therapy is life saving . Broadly these include Hemo dialysis , Peritoneal Dialysis and Kidney transplantation. The latter is the preferred modality of treatment since the Quality of Life it offers is much better than dialysis .
Kidney transplantation requires a team approach .Nephrologists, Urologists, Transplant Anesthesiologists , Intensivists and Interventional Radiologists form a Closely knit team which interacts with each other for successful outcome in Kidney transplants.
We were the First Hospital in India to perform a kidney transplant on a patient with Bombay Blood Group ( a rare Blood Group ) way back in 1995 . We were also the first Hospital in Southern Districts to carry out Double Cadaver Renal transplants from a Single Donor. Over the last 30 years and 1500 transplants later we reflect on our mission and vision that no man is too poor to afford first class treatment.
Our Longest surviving transplant recipient is a 64 years old patient who received his graft in the year 1993. At that time he was in his thirties with two school going children. As of today he has lived a full life seeing his children getting married and becoming a grandfather. A successful Kidney transplant offers such unmatched quality and duration of life .
Over the years the drugs which have been used for kidney transplants have changed for the better . They include drugs like tacrolimus which is more potentthan cyclosporine.Nowadays the steroid dosage has also come down considerably which adds to the safety with less cosmetic side effects. Newer drugs like Rituximab provides added repertoire to treat resistant rejection. Cadaver renal transplants have become more common place with excellent results.
One more addition to the transplant scene is the ABO incompatible renal transplants which have been successfully carried out in MMHRC. The Blood group barrier is breached and special methods of treatment like Plasmapheresis and Column adsorption have resulted in safe removal of inherent antibodies from the patient so that he accepts the kidney with different blood group.
Pediatric kidney transplants have also been undertaken successfully in MMHRC. These children have been given a new lease of life and freedom from an otherwise life threatening disease.
We are also seeing an increasing trend of Spouse transplants due to nuclear families. This is in contrast to the earlier era when it was either a sibling or parent who was the willing kidney donor.
Future plans include Swap transplants where same blood group pairs are selected from different families to undergo transplants at the same time after due certification process by the Government Authorisation committee.
In conclusion , at the MMHRC, we are committed to perform Kidney transplants using state of the art technology and unmatched expertise .The ever growing number of such transplants is a testament to our skill and compassion .
