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Worlds First HIV-to-HIV Kidney Transplant with Living Donor actually happened in India

Posted By

IMAlive, Posted on April 12th, 2019

Worlds First HIV-to-HIV Kidney Transplant with Living Donor  happened in India

John Hopkins claims to have performed the first of its kind medical procedure in the world, but Chennai based Appolo Hospital had done it almost a year back

Kidney transplant from an HIV donor to HIV recipient

The medical world in the West is now celebrating "kidney transplantation" which they claim is the first of its kind in the world.  Surgeons at Baltimore based Johns Hopkins Hospital performed kidney transplantation between a living HIV positive donor and an HIV positive recipient, and they claim it is the first of its kind event in the world.

As a Portal continuously tracking the latest developments in medicine, especially in India,  this news is exciting and gives India much more reasons to celebrate. In Dec 2018, we had covered news in this same portal based on a similar procedure that was performed by Dr. Anil Vaidya, a Senior Consultant, and Transplantation Surgeon in Chennai way back in May 2018. It was reported in The Hindu that a 52-year-old HIV positive patient was denied transplantation in Jharkhand in the last hour, and search for help on the internet brought them to Dr. Anil Vaidya who performed the procedure. The couple during the time of the procedure was under Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART).

IMALive in a telephonic interview with Dr. Anil Vaidya, from Apollo Hospital, Chennai talks about the unique procedure he had successfully performed nearly a year back in India. This is the first interview Dr Anil Vaidya has given after the news about John Hopkin's widely celebrated claim.

IMALive: The international medical journals, scientific publications, and even the mainstream news mediums are now celebrating the successful kidney transplantation from an HIV donor to HIV recipient and they claim is the first of its kind in the world. We understand it has been done by you almost a year back. Why do you think such news on India does not get due international attention?

Dr Anil Vaidya: I guess, in India, there is lesser interest in science and medical subjects from a media perspective. I think, the news was given out only to the Hindu and a few others like you would have followed up with stories based on that. In the West, medical research and unique procedures are looked upon differently, and even the Hospitals and the Research Institutes continuously publish case studies and research papers which they share with mainstream media as well.

Could you speak about the procedure you had done?

Dr Anil Vaidya: In 2018, we were approached by a Jharkhand based couple through an internet search. The Husband who was 52 years old at the time was suffering from HIV Associated Nephropathy or HIVAN. 

His wife was willing to be the donor. They approached us after other hospitals refused to do the procedure as there are complications which may affect the donor in the long run. After counseling and explaining the risks and other implications involved with the couple, the wife confirmed her willingness to donate her kidney. The procedure was successful, they are living their routine without any complications until now. So far so good.

Why were other doctors reluctant? Are there any other complications?

Dr Anil Vaidya: Other hospitals could have refused to perform the transplant considering that, in the long-run, the wife could also get HIV-associated nephropathy. Now with a lot of improvements in antiretroviral treatments, people with HIV can live like any other normal person. The increased risks of kidney disease and other complications have significantly reduced.

Would this mean that in the past organs from HIV patients were never transplanted?

Dr Anil Vaidya: Transplantation from a deceased HIV patient has happened before. But for the first time, we had conducted transplantation from a living HIV donor.

Why is this significant and a milestone?

Dr. Anil Vaidya: As I had said, in the long term as it could have implications on donors, finding donors for HIV patients in critical need was difficult. So getting HIV infected was almost considered like a life sentence. With such developments, this could change dramatically. So this could be considered a milestone in the evolution of HIV treatment and care.

Would you like to contest the John Hopkins claim that they are the first to perform?

Dr. Anil Vaidya: I don't think being first or second makes much of a difference. What is important is that such breakthroughs in medical research give hope to thousands of HIV patients across the world. But yes, as a country we should give more importance on research publications and disseminating information through media so that our case studies get global traction and this would be good from a larger interest of the country and the medical field. 

We are planning to publish our own research paper on this. We were waiting to publish this after monitoring the donor and recipient health parameters for one year.

 

About Dr Anil Vaidya: Dr Anil Vaidya a multi-organ transplant surgeon with a varied clinical, translational and academic portfolio. After completion of his surgical/urological residency he went on to do an American Society of Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) accredited fellowship in multi-organ transplantation at the University of Miami. He has been a Consultant Transplant Surgeon at the Oxford University Hospitals for 11 years where his main focus was on developing a robust pancreatic, intestinal and multi-visceral transplant program. With his leadership, the Oxford Transplant Centre is now by far the largest Pancreas Transplant Centre in Europe and fast becoming the Centre known for the most amount of Pancreas alone transplants worldwide. He is responsible for restarting the intestinal transplant program in the UK and brings it onto the map in the intestinal transplant community by organizing the International Conference for intestinal Transplant, biennial meeting at Oxford in 2013. Education MBBS DNB - General Surgery Specialties General Surgery Hepatobiliary Surgery-Organ Transplantation Treatments Renal Transplant Liver Transplantation Pancreas Transplantation Intestine Transplantation Experience Years of experience at Various hospitals in the world Transplant Surgeon at Apollo Hospital Chennai Membership Indian Medical Association. He currently serves at Appolo Hospital, Chennai. 

John Hopkins claims to have performed the first of its kind medical procedure in the world, but Chennai based Appolo Hospital had done it almost a year back

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