A 45-year-old woman donated a kidney to her son, suffering from end-stage renal disease, at the Government Kilpauk Medical College (KMC) Hospital, recently.
This was the ninth case of ABO incompatible living-related renal transplantation performed at the hospital. According to dean P. Vasanthamani, the patient, a 25-year-old man, had ‘B positive’ blood group, while his mother was ‘A positive’.
The patient was also registered for a kidney under the deceased donor programme. “But the minimum waiting period for a kidney is three to five years,” he added. The mother volunteered to donate her kidney, and doctors prepared the patient for ABO incompatible renal transplant.
Plasma exchange
“In such cases, where the patient and donor belong to different blood groups, the transplanted kidney could start to malfunction immediately, as the antibodies in the recipient’s blood will act against the organ. This is called hyperacute rejection that could occur within a few seconds of the transplant. Hence, we remove the antibodies in the recipient’s blood through a process called plasmapheresis or plasma exchange,” said T. Balasubramaniyan, chief nephrologist, KMC.
Doctors performed the transplant on November 26. The patient was discharged from the hospital on December 23, and is on regular follow-up.
