Indian doctors perform heart transplant on two-year-old Russian boy

Two-year-old Gleb Kudriavtceva from Russia got a new lease of life in December last year after doctors in Chennai successfully conducted a heart transplant on him.

Baby Gleb was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy a few months after his birth. His mother, Nelli Kudriavtceva, met doctors in Moscow and even travelled to Germany before coming to India for treatment on December 18, 2014.

Kudriavtceva approached Chennai's Fortis Malar Hospital with her son's medical history. Just a day later, on December 19, the hospital was alerted about a couple in Bengaluru who wanted to donate the organs of their two-year-old child who was declared brain dead by doctors.

The organ was airlifted to Chennai the very same day and a team of highly qualified doctors conducted the transplant, which took six hours.

"We got an organ available on the December 19. So we airlifted the organ from Bangalore and did the transplant. The new heart was not used to pumping at such high pressure in the lungs, so we had to support it for almost seven to eight hours in the operating room and another ten days in the post-operating period, after which the muscle became thick enough to overcome the lung pressure. Now the child has recovered very well and will lead a normal life," the director of the Cardiac Sciences Department at Fortis Malar Hospital, Dr. K. R. Balakrishnan, said.

As Kudriavtceva breathed a sigh of relief after the successful surgery, she thanked doctors for saving her child's life.

"Before the operation I was scared but now I am very happy. The doctors here are like gods and helped me so much. I have started loving Chennai and will come back again," she said.

Gleb weighed 7 kgs when he underwent the transplant. As his health improved with each passing day, the two-year-old now weighs a healthy 10 kg and is ready to lead a normal life like any other child of his age.