City hosp performs lung transplant on 4-year-old Russian

CHENNAI: A four-year-old from Russia has become one of Asia’s youngest recipients of a bilateral lung transplant at MGM Healthcare.

At the age of two months, Nazar Dianov, who was diagnosed with fibrosing alveolitis, was put on a ventilator as his oxygen saturation was extremely low. He then underwent tracheostomy at the age of six months in Russia and was airlifted to this hospital in 2018 for further treatment and a possible lung transplant referred by the doctors in Russia.

“He was kept on ventilator for three years in Chennai as we tried to find a suitable donor for him. A two-year-old brain-dead donor became available in December 2020 in Surat and the organ was airlifted. Nazar underwent bilateral lung transplantation and was under observation in ICU care. However, the newly transplanted lungs are responding well,” Dr Suresh Rao KG, co-director of Heart and Lung Transplantation Programme and Mechanical Circulatory Support, MGM.

He added that this is one of the longest duration for a child to be kept on ventilator before undergoing a successful transplant in the world and is the youngest lung transplant recipient in India and one of the youngest in Asia.

A 20-member team under the leadership of Dr KR Balakrishnan, Chairman, and Director of Cardiac Sciences, and Director of the Heart and Lung Transplant Program conducted the procedure on the patient on December 15, 2020.

Dr KR Balakrishnan said, “the child is currently off the ventilator and on minimal oxygen support. He is recovering well and undergoing physiotherapy and rehabilitation and will be able to lead a normal life in the future.”