Man donates organs to save daughter DH News Service, Bangalore:
Ramadoddi Kullayappa couldnt bear to see his diabetic daughter suffer. Dependent on insulin, Neeraja had developed renal failure that required periodic dialysis. Life had begun its slow march to its end.
But last month, Kullayappa made a decision that changed her life forever: In a remarkable act of love and affection, he donated one of his kidneys and part of the pancreas to his daughter.
It took a unique, rare multiple surgery by the doctors at Bangalore’s Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital to realise that momentous shift in their lives. A month later, both the father and daughter had turned a new page, and the hospital chose this occasion to announce the surgery to the world. As Dr Ashley, a member of the team that conducted the surgeries, claimed, the transplant was the first of its kind in the country. “The father donated half of his pancreas and one kidney to his 26-year-old daughter, who is diabetic. The patient can henceforth reduce the dosage of insulin, post operation,” he said.
The procedure was a Simultaneous Pancreas and Kidney (SPK) transplant from the live donor in India recently.
The operation cost Rs 10 lakh. While the patient’s family bore Rs 4 lakh of the total cost, the Hrudayalaya subsidised the remaining amount.
The doctor explained that insulin-dependent diabetics, who develop renal failure requiring dialysis, had a short lifespan. Less than 20 per cent of such patients survived not more than five years. A successful renal transplant almost doubles their longevity.
However, the renal allograft inevitably suffers the consequence of hyperglycemia and patients develop recurrent diabetic nephropathy.
The SPK transplant results in a euglycemic state and significantly prolongs the survival of both the patient and the graft.
A pancreas transplant can also be performed in insulin-dependent diabetic patients who have already received a renal allograft and have stable renal function or who have no renal failure, according to the doctor.
http://www.deccanherald.com/Content/Nov162008/scroll20081116101051.asp?section=frontpagenews
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