Bengaluru: Double-lung operation gives Covid-hit doctor new life

BENGALURU: A city anaesthetist working in Covid ward who suffered extensive damage to lungs in the second wave has received a new lease of life after a three-month hospital stay filled with uncertainties and a successful double-lung transplant.


Dr Sanath Kumar, 30, who works with a private hospital, tested positive for Covid on May 7 and was shifted to ICU after his condition started gradually worsening. Dr Sanath Kumar was admitted to Aster CMI Hospital on May 28 and was put on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a life-support machine, before he underwent a double-lung transplant on June 22. He was discharged on September 7.

Sanath’s wife Manjula MJ, also a doctor, said he had not taken Covid jab as he had sinusitis and suffered from allergies. Sanath is currently on oxygen support and undergoing physiotherapy sessions. “When I tested positive and started taking medicines, I thought I’d recover soon. I never imagined I’d end up with a double-lung transplant,” he added.

This is said to be the first post-Covid double-lung transplant in Karnataka. Doctors conducted the procedure along with Dr Sandeep Attawar, chair and director, thoracic organ transplants and assist devices at KIMS heart and lung transplant institute. He came from Hyderabad for the procedure.

“Sanath was under observation for 3-4 weeks for any signs of improvement in his lungs. Since his lungs were severely damaged, he needed a double-lung transplant for survival,” Dr V Arun, lead consultant (anaesthesia and critical care), Aster CMI Hospital, said. Within four weeks of registering with Jeevasarthakate (the organ transplant and tissues organisation in Karnataka), the lungs of a braindead cadaver donor were found to match with those of Sanath.

Attawar said the surgery was “gruelling” since Sanath suffered from a life-threatening combination of lung damage caused by SARS-CoV2, an exaggerated immune response to it, and the body’s failure to properly repair the injury.