From Daily Mail Online, London, United Kingdom
Saved from life on dialysis... by the UK's first ever keyhole kidney transplant operation: Former soldier given sister's organ in pioneering procedure
Brian Blanchard faced a lifetime of dialysis after suffering from kidney failure
But a pioneering keyhole kidney transplant operation has changed his life
Surgeons removed his sister's kidney through groin rather than abdomen
Kidney was then inserted through a small incision in Brian's abdomen
Previously the procedure would have needed a 10-inch opening to be cut
A former soldier has become the first person in Britain to undergo a pioneering keyhole kidney transplant.
Brian Blanchard, 51, who had been suffering from kidney failure, was facing a lifetime of dialysis treatment until surgeons carried out operations last month that featured two breakthroughs in keyhole surgery techniques.
In the first, the organ – donated by Brian’s sister Pam Morphett – was removed through her groin rather than her abdomen, leaving her with a far less visible scar.
In the second, the kidney was inserted through an incision in Brian’s abdomen measuring just two and a half inches. Previously, a ten-inch opening would have been needed for the operation.
Surgeons say the new techniques pave the way for safer transplant operations, and to patients recovering more quickly.
Brian, from New Brighton, Merseyside, who now runs an engineering company owner, says he is proud to be the UK’s first patient for this procedure.
‘The surgeon told me it would mean less pain and a quicker recovery,’ he says.
‘To be honest, I was just delighted that my sister turned out to be a tissue and blood type match so was able to help. My scar is already barely visible – I’m amazed how they managed to insert the kidney through such a small hole. It’s only three weeks since the operation, and I’m already out walking the dog.’
[Read more]
From Business Standard, India
A city hospital claimed to have performed a rare and successful kidney transplant on a 28-year old youth, who had no no blood group matched donor in his family.
The man was struggling on dialysis for the last two years and had registered for a cadaver or deceased donor for kidney transplantation. However, due to long waiting list, he was unlikely to get a cadaver donor in the next three years, G Bhakthavathsalam, Chairman, K G Hospital, said in a release today.
After seven days of specialised desensitisation treatment, he had mismatched kidney transplant from his AB positive mother and made a rapid recovery and was discharged, along with his donor mother from the hospital, in just one week after transplant surgery, which was performed a fortnight ago.
The doctors have done such a complex procedure in almost at the same cost as a regular kidney transplant and the patient was discharged in a record time, he said.
The first ABO mismatched kidney transplant in the country was done in April 2009 in Christian Medical College, Vellore.
Approximately, 30 per cent of patients who want a kidney transplant do not have a blood group matched donor. Without transplant, patients end up getting long term dialysis, which is costly (Rs.Three lakhs per annum), affects their quality of life (depend on others and difficult to continue work) and compromise their long term survival (average survival 3-6 years), he said.
Since the average waiting time for cadaver transplant is increasing and is at present more than 3 to 4 years, ABO mismatched transplant is a boon for dialysis dependent patients.
Kidney Blackmarket
The seven-inch scar runs diagonally across the left flank of his skinny torso, a glaring reminder of an operation he hoped would save his family from debt but instead plunged him into shame.
Chhay, 18, sold his kidney for $3,000 in an illicit deal that saw him whisked from a rickety one-room house on the outskirts of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh to a gleaming hospital in the medical tourism hub of neighbouring Thailand.
His shadowy journey, which went unnoticed by authorities two years ago, has instigated Cambodia's first-ever cases of organ trafficking and the arrests of two alleged brokers.
It has also raised fears that other victims hide beneath the radar.
At the corrugated iron shack he shares with nine relatives, Chhay says a neighbour persuaded him and a pair of brothers—all from the marginalised Cham Muslim minority—to sell their kidneys to rich Cambodians on dialysis.
"She said you are poor, you don't have money, if you sell your kidney you will be able to pay off your debts," the teenager told AFP, requesting his real name be withheld.
Identical stories have long been common in the slums of India and Nepal, better-known hotspots for traffickers. Up to 10,000, or 10 percent, of the organs transplanted globally each year are trafficked, according to the latest World Health Organization estimate.
But on discovering the broker earned $10,000 for each kidney they sacrificed, the donors filed complaints, alerting police in June to a potential new organ trade route.
"Kidney trafficking is not like other crimes... If the victims don't speak up, we will never know," said Phnom Penh's deputy police chief Prum Sonthor.
In July his force charged Yem Azisah, 29—believed to be a cousin of the sibling donors—and her step-father, known as Phalla, 40, with human trafficking.
The pair are being detained and await trial.
First case
Trafficking is a widespread problem in impoverished Cambodia and police routinely investigate cases linked to the sex trade, forced marriage or slavery—but this was the first related to organs.
"This is easy money that earns a lot of income, so we are worried," said Prum, adding there were at least two other Cambodian donors taken to Thailand who had not filed complaints.
The complicity of donors, whether compelled by poverty or coerced by unscrupulous brokers, makes it an under-reported crime which is difficult to expose.
In August media reports emerged about new alleged organ trafficking cases at a military hospital in Phnom Penh.
Prum, who investigated the case, said it was a training exercise between Chinese and Cambodian doctors, using voluntary Vietnamese donors and patients.
But he was unable to rule out whether money changed hands. [Read more]
Gift of Life
From Vinton Newspapers, Vinton, Iowa, by Jim Morrison
The cost of getting a great gift
The alarm needlessly rang at 4:30, just as it did every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Already lying awake, I rolled out of bed, hit the shower and fixed breakfast.
The daily routine on those days called for arrival at the Mercy Dialysis Center at Virginia Gay Hospital by 10 minutes to six. I’d been on dialysis for kidney disease since 2011 so it had become pretty routine.
As I drove across town, my cell phone rang in my pocket but I let it ring. Several joggers and walkers fill the streets about that time of morning and I didn’t want to be distracted.
As I pulled into my parking spot the phone rang again. Pulling it out of my pocket, I noticed it was the same phone number that had tried to reach me a few minutes earlier.
“Hello.”
“I’m really glad to get a hold of you. This is Amanda with the University of Iowa Transplant Center. We have an awesome kidney for you.”
“What?”
“We have an awesome match for a kidney for you. We need you to get down here as soon as possible.”
My world stopped.
We continued talking as I walked into the hospital to let Hope and Emily know my dialysis chair would be empty that day. Turning the corner into the treatment center, I started to speak and then broke into tears.
Hope and Emily looked with great concern and I could only move my mouth silently between the tears.
“Transplant.”
Ending the phone call, I got through telling them the details, headed out and almost ran over a jogger as I drove over to the office – a perfect example of why the staff in Iowa City didn’t want me driving myself to the hospital. As I posted a message on Facebook, the transplant center called again. They had decided they wanted me to get a couple of hours of dialysis before leaving for Iowa City.
As I drove back, I phoned Becky with Leaping Rescues to let her know the developments and to pick me up at home in a couple of hours. Hope got me hooked up with those big dialysis needles and surprisingly I slept for a while. Emily observed they were losing a patient, but it was for the right reason.
The wait for a kidney had started in May of 2011 after my diagnosis of kidney disease. The ailment was caused by uncontrolled high blood pressure and a couple of severe bouts of diarrhea. Many hours of dialysis had finally led to this phone call. [Read more]
From Vinton Newspapers, Vinton, Iowa, by Jim Morrison
The cost of getting a great gift
The alarm needlessly rang at 4:30, just as it did every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Already lying awake, I rolled out of bed, hit the shower and fixed breakfast.
The daily routine on those days called for arrival at the Mercy Dialysis Center at Virginia Gay Hospital by 10 minutes to six. I’d been on dialysis for kidney disease since 2011 so it had become pretty routine.
As I drove across town, my cell phone rang in my pocket but I let it ring. Several joggers and walkers fill the streets about that time of morning and I didn’t want to be distracted.
As I pulled into my parking spot the phone rang again. Pulling it out of my pocket, I noticed it was the same phone number that had tried to reach me a few minutes earlier.
“Hello.”
“I’m really glad to get a hold of you. This is Amanda with the University of Iowa Transplant Center. We have an awesome kidney for you.”
“What?”
“We have an awesome match for a kidney for you. We need you to get down here as soon as possible.”
My world stopped.
We continued talking as I walked into the hospital to let Hope and Emily know my dialysis chair would be empty that day. Turning the corner into the treatment center, I started to speak and then broke into tears.
Hope and Emily looked with great concern and I could only move my mouth silently between the tears.
“Transplant.”
Ending the phone call, I got through telling them the details, headed out and almost ran over a jogger as I drove over to the office – a perfect example of why the staff in Iowa City didn’t want me driving myself to the hospital. As I posted a message on Facebook, the transplant center called again. They had decided they wanted me to get a couple of hours of dialysis before leaving for Iowa City.
As I drove back, I phoned Becky with Leaping Rescues to let her know the developments and to pick me up at home in a couple of hours. Hope got me hooked up with those big dialysis needles and surprisingly I slept for a while. Emily observed they were losing a patient, but it was for the right reason.
The wait for a kidney had started in May of 2011 after my diagnosis of kidney disease. The ailment was caused by uncontrolled high blood pressure and a couple of severe bouts of diarrhea. Many hours of dialysis had finally led to this phone call. [Read more]
No comments:
Post a Comment