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Updated June 12th, 2020 at 13:36 IST

Indian-origin doctor performs first ever lung transplant for patient with COVID-19 history

An Indian-origin doctor along with his team of surgeons has given a new set of lungs to a young woman who suffered severe lung damage due to COVId-19 infection

Reported by: Brigitte Fernandes
COVID-19
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In a ray of hope amid the COVID-19 pandemic, an Indian-origin doctor along with his team of surgeons has given a new set of lungs to a young woman who suffered severe lung damage due to the deadly infection. The surgery is the first of its kind to be successfully performed in the United States.

The surgery was performed by Dr. Ankit Bharat, Chief of Thoracic Surgery and Surgical Director of Northwestern's lung transplant programme. Dr. Bharat was operating on a woman in her 20s who would not have survived without the transplant, Northwestern Medicine in Chicago informed.

"This is one of the toughest transplants I've done", said Dr. Ankit Bharat. "This was truly one of the most challenging cases", he added. Dr. Bharat further said organ transplantation may become more frequent for patients with the most severe forms of COVID-19.

The recipient of the lung transplant is in intensive care and recovering from the surgery after being on lung and heart assistance devices for two months, as per international media reports.

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The infection caused by the novel coronavirus most commonly attacks the respiratory system but also can inflict damage on kidneys, hearts, blood vessels and the neurological system, Dr. Bharat mentioned. The patient was on immunosuppressant medication for a previous condition when she contracted COVID-19. The virus devastated her lungs, leaving the physicians with fewer options.

The woman developed secondary bacterial infections that could not be controlled by antibiotics because her lungs were so badly damaged, he said. The deteriorated condition of her lungs also led to the failure of her heart, followed by other organs that were not receiving enough oxygen.

The patient was placed on a mechanical ventilator to help her breathe and later was shifted to an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation device, which adds oxygen to blood outside the body and helps the heart pump blood through vessels, Dr. Bharat added.

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Meanwhile, the team of doctors repeatedly tested fluid from her lungs to be sure she was COVID-19 negative before operating, but by that time she was sicker, Dr. Bharat said. The woman spent only two days on the waiting list before an appropriate brain-dead lung donor was found. However, just a small percentage of the donor's lungs meet the standards for transplantation. 

At first, the woman's physicians were not sure these would qualify, Dr. Bharat mentioned. He then concluded by adding that he and the members in his field are not aware of any other organ transplant in the United States involving a recipient who had contracted COVID-19 infection.

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(With inputs from agency)

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Published June 12th, 2020 at 13:36 IST

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