In a rare case, 86 year old lady who herself was a doctor, became one of the oldest cadaveric donor in Delhi. A resident of South Delhi, the lady was declared brain dead on September 12 late at night, at a Delhi hospital, after suffering from an acute stroke post which the family expressed her wish of donating her liver and kidney at the time of her death.
Many hospitals were apprehensive of retrieving the organs from an 86 year old, undermining the health of those organs, but Indraprastha Apollo welcomed this liver donation as it would be life saving for a patient in need. A 42 year old man who was a patient of Hepatitis C, consequently, had suffered from liver failure and was in urgent need of a liver transplant. The liver transplant team headed by Dr Neerav Goyal carried out the process of extracting the liver from the lady, harvesting it to ensure it can be used for transplant in a healthy condition and successfully conducting the procedure of liver transplant. While the kidney was accepted by the hospital where she died, the donor’s liver was transplanted at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, into the 42 year old man at midnight on September 13, within hours of the donation.
Dr Neerav Goyal, Senior Consultant, Liver Transplant, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, said: “The usual acceptable age for cadaver organ transplant is 65 years of age, people beyond that age are considered as marginal donors. When we got to know that there is a cadaver donor for liver, we decided to evaluate the organ to examine whether it will be suitable for donation. The liver biopsy revealed that the lady had a perfectly healthy liver, like that of a young person, hence we decided to go ahead with the procedure.”