Man gets new life in Kolkata's second heart transplant

A 51-year-old man from Kolkata was given a new lease of life after doctors at a private hospital conducted city's second successful heart transplant here on Monday.

The heart, donated by a brain dead accident victim from Andhra Pradesh's Kakinada, was brought to the city in a chartered flight late on Sunday and transported to the Fortis hospital in south Kolkata's Anandapur by facilitating a green corridor, where the operation was then conducted.

The patient was suffering from 'Dilated cardiomyopathy', a condition in which the heart's ability to pump blood is decreased because the heart's main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, is enlarged and weakened.

The patient's name was registered with NOTTO (National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation).

"The operation has been completed successfully. The patient will be under constant observation for next 24-48 hours. His condition is stable," said K. M. Mandana, Director, Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Surgery at the hospital.

Earlier on Sunday, a group of doctors removed the live heart from a 24 year old brain dead patient at a private hospital, Malar in Chennai. It was then brought to Kolkata in a chartered flight at around 11.53 p.m.

The heart was transported to the hospital from the airport, by covering a distance of 26 km within 16 minutes through a green corridor.

Earlier in May, the city witnessed its first successful heart transplant surgery in the same hospital.

--IANS

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