Mother donates kidney to save her 12-year-old's life

Bengaluru: A 12-year-old girl child suffering from End Stage Kidney failure successfully underwent a Robot assisted living donor kidney transplant at Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta Road. The team of doctors was led by Dr Mohan Keshavamurthy and Dr Sreeharsha Harinatha from the department of Urology, Uro-Oncology, Kidney Transplant and Robotic Surgery.A multi-disciplinary team of doctors including Dr Aashish Parekh, Consultant - Nephrology, Dr Yogesh Gupta, Consultant-Paediatrics and Dr Shivanand Patil, Consultant- Interventional Cardiology at Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta Road and the Anaesthesia team led by Dr Murali Chakravarthy Director, Anaesthesiology and Dr Ashok Anand, Consultant-Anaesthesiology were involved in managing the condition of the patient.The girl was undergoing dialysis since one year. She was diagnosed with Lupus Nephritis (an autoimmune disease that causes immune system to produce proteins called autoantibodies which attack one's own tissues and organs, including the kidneys) along with hypertension and dilated cardiomyopathy with Ejection Fraction (EF) of 26%.

The child withstood the procedure well, creatinine normalised to 0.46mg/dl on third postoperative day and EF improved to 44% after 1 week following surgery. Ejection fraction (EF) refers to how well the left ventricle (or right ventricle) pumps blood with each heartbeat. Cardiovascular disease accounts for a mortality rate of 36% among all paediatric patients with ESRD, 34% among those undergoing dialysis, and 11% of all paediatric deaths after transplantation. The Director - Urology, Uro oncology, Andrology, Uro Gynaecology, Robotic Surgery and Transplantation at Fortis Hospital, Bannerghatta Road, Dr Mohan Keshavamurthy explained, "The child was undergoing dialysis since a year and her condition was deteriorating. Owing to her critical condition, the mother decided to donate her kidney and give a fresh lease of life to her daughter. We have performed a Laparoscopic assisted donor nephrectomy and Da Vinci Xi Robot assisted Paediatric Renal Transplant recipient surgery successfully. This is the first instance of Robot Assisted Paediatric transplant in the Fortis network. The child recovered with minimal morbidity and pain. She had come to the hospital on wheelchair and returned home walking with infectious energy." NCBI, (The National Center for Biotechnology Information) states, although end stage renal disease (ESRD) in adults is usually caused by diabetic nephropathy, hypertension, autosomal dominant polycystic kidney, and chronic glomerulonephritis, the primary causes of ESRD in paediatric patients are focal segmental glomerulosclerosis, renal dysplasia, obstructive uropathy, and reflux nephropathy.