Zee News, New Delhi :
A double-lung transplant on COVID-19 patient has been performed by surgeons led by an Indian-origin doctor Ankit Bharat in the United States. The surgery is believed to be the first of its kind since coronavirus pandemic began in America. Dr Ankit Bharat is chief of thoracic surgery and surgical director of Northwestern’s lung transplant programme.
In her twenties, the Chicago patient was on a ventilator and heart-lung machine for almost two months before she underwent this complicated operation at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The 10-hour procedure was challenging as the coronavirus had left her lungs full of holes and almost fused to the chest wall, Ankit Bharat, who performed the operation, told Washington Post. The woman was reportedly on immunosuppressant medication for the previous condition when she contracted the lethal infection, which
might have affected her lungs. The patient had spent six weeks in the coronavirus ICU on a ventilator and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a life support machine that does the work of the heart and lungs, the hospital stated.
By early June, her lungs showed irreversible damage and the lung transplant team listed her for a double-lung transplant, and 48 hours later, performed the life-saving procedure a the hospital.
“A lung transplant was her only chance for survival,” Ankit Bharat is quoted as saying. “We are one of the first health systems to successfully perform a lung transplant on a patient recovering from Covid-19. We want other transplant centers to know that while the transplant procedure in these patients is quite technically challenging, it can be done safely, and it offers the terminally ill Covid-19 patients another option for survival,” he added.
A double-lung transplant on COVID-19 patient has been performed by surgeons led by an Indian-origin doctor Ankit Bharat in the United States. The surgery is believed to be the first of its kind since coronavirus pandemic began in America. Dr Ankit Bharat is chief of thoracic surgery and surgical director of Northwestern’s lung transplant programme.
In her twenties, the Chicago patient was on a ventilator and heart-lung machine for almost two months before she underwent this complicated operation at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. The 10-hour procedure was challenging as the coronavirus had left her lungs full of holes and almost fused to the chest wall, Ankit Bharat, who performed the operation, told Washington Post. The woman was reportedly on immunosuppressant medication for the previous condition when she contracted the lethal infection, which
might have affected her lungs. The patient had spent six weeks in the coronavirus ICU on a ventilator and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a life support machine that does the work of the heart and lungs, the hospital stated.
By early June, her lungs showed irreversible damage and the lung transplant team listed her for a double-lung transplant, and 48 hours later, performed the life-saving procedure a the hospital.
“A lung transplant was her only chance for survival,” Ankit Bharat is quoted as saying. “We are one of the first health systems to successfully perform a lung transplant on a patient recovering from Covid-19. We want other transplant centers to know that while the transplant procedure in these patients is quite technically challenging, it can be done safely, and it offers the terminally ill Covid-19 patients another option for survival,” he added.
