MIOT hospital has done kidney transplantation on a seven-year-old boy, who was only 95 cm tall and weighed just 13 kg. On Saturday, head of the Institute of Nephrology at the hospital Rajan Ravichandran told reporters that Sanjey had the appearance of a three-year-old. The hospital's cut-off weight for surgery until then was 15 kg.
Sanjey was admitted to the hospital about three months ago with an episode of pneumonia. He was diagnosed as suffering from Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), a condition in which valuable nutrients from the blood are expelled by the kidneys through urine.
“His mother offered to donate her kidney. Technically, it is difficult to conduct transplants on children. In the United States, less than two per cent of the 18,000 renal transplantations are done on children. In India it is less than one in 5,000 transplantations,” Dr. Rajan said.
A child is not given another child's kidney. An adult kidney weighs about 150 gm, is about 9 to 10 inches long and four to five inches wide, making transplantation difficult as in a child, blood vessels are small.
Sanjey was stabilised for a month with peritoneal dialysis while an endocrinologist corrected his thyroid condition. Six weeks after admission, in a two-hour surgery, Sanjey was given his mother's kidney.
The kidney is a little higher in the abdomen region as it is bigger in size. Sanjey will continue to be on lifelong medication. After being put for two days on ventilator, doctors were relieved to see him recover.
The surgery could cost Rs.3 to 5 lakh, Dr. Rajan said.
Tests revealed that Sanjey's two-year-old brother also suffers from the condition. Dr. Rajan said that the condition could run in families and skip generations before showing up again.
Sanjey's mother Sujatha Siva Arasu said, “We consulted doctors as he was not growing normally. Doctors said the creatinine level in the urine was high. We went to several hospitals in the city but received no help,” she said.
