Doctors transplant thymus along with kidney to reduce organ rejection, a first

Doctors transplant thymus along with kidney to reduce organ rejection, a first in the State

By Indian Express
Saturday June 9, 02:06 AM

Doctors at the Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre (IKDRC) and the Institute of Transplantation Sciences (ITS) claimed today to have successfully transplanted the thymus of a deceased donor along with his kidney in a 13-year-old boy suffering from renal failure. Dr H L Trivedi, Director of IKDRC-ITS said, "This is the first time this surgery has been successfully carried out in the state."

The thymus is a peanut-sized bunch of cells located behind the breastbone and in front of the heart. Though it is dormant in a healthy body, one of its functions is to reject foreign cells in the body. This poses a problem for organ transplantation, and to negate its effect, the recipient is put on heavy doses of immuno-suppressants. However, doctors at the IKDRC-ITS, by also transplanting the thymus of the donor along with his kidney claim to have significantly lowered the rejection rate of transplanted organs, Trivedi said.

The surgery was performed on May 23. Maulesh, the 13-year-old recipient of the organs is doing well. His dose of immuno-suppressants is down to 20 percent of what is required after normal transplants.

Dr Manish Raval, Vascular Surgeon, said. "We were lucky to get a good thymus from the deceased donor. The thymus shrinks to half its size immediately after the death of the person and is of no use to us after four hours. Here, we were able to quickly get access of the organs of the donor."

The thymus transplantation can be performed only when the donor is deceased. It is not possible in case of live-donors. Dr Raval said, "The rejection rate in case of deceased donors is significantly high. Thymus transplantation with the kidney will help in combating that."

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