Kochi to get its first homograft bank soon

KOCHI: Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) is in the process of setting up a homograft bank that will be second such bank to preserve

aorta

and

pulmonary artery

from the deceased donors in the state.


This will benefit children, who have infection of the valves. In absence of aorta and pulmonary artery, they must rely on bovine or artificial ones, which is expensive. They also increase the risk of infection. While bovine aorta and pulmonary artery costs around Rs 1 lakh, an artificial one costs around Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh. In homograft transplant, the cost is reduced to around Rs 10,000.

"We have purchased the necessary

instruments

and obtained licence to retain the aorta and pulmonary artery from accident and suicide victims. This will be done with the deceased's relatives consent and in coordination with the police surgeon," said AIMS medical superintendent Dr Sanjeev Singh. AIMS would be collaborating with Government Medical College, Ernakulam, and Ernakulam General hospital to get aorta and pulmonary.

The aorta is the largest artery in the body. It begins at the top of the left ventricle, the heart's muscular pumping chamber. The heart pumps blood from the left ventricle into the aorta through the

aortic valve

, while pulmonary artery carries blood from the right ventricle of heart to the lungs for oxygenation.

At present, only Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, has this facility.

"There is no substitute to human aorta and pulmonary artery and homograft implants will drastically reduce infection risk. However, in homograft transplants also we need to replace the organs as the child grows. In their lifetime, they would need three transplants," said Dr Praveen Varma, head, department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, AIMS.