Mother Donates Kidney To Save 12-Yr-Old Daughter's Life In Bengaluru Through Robot-Aid

A mother donated her kidney to her 12-year-old daughter, suffering from end-stage kidney failure, at a private hospital in Bengaluru through a paediatric robot-aided living donor transplant.

Rakshitha (changed name) had been on dialysis for a year, as per Dr Mohan Keshavamurthy and Dr Sreeharsha Harinatha, the lead surgeons from the Department of Urology, Uro Oncology, Kidney Transplant, and Robotic Surgery at Fortis Hospitals in Bengaluru who operated on the girl.

When Revati Sunil Murakibhavi and Sunil Murakibhavi of Basavanagar in Gokak taluk, Belagavi district, spotted Rakshita's declining health, they knew something was amiss. According to the Doctors, Rakshita was diagnosed with lupus nephritis (an autoimmune illness in which the immune system produces proteins called autoantibodies that attack one's own tissues and organs).

Beginning Of Treatment

When Rakshita's parents were told about the kidney transplant, they were both ready to donate a kidney to save her life. Revati, a 38-year-old homemaker, leapt when early testing revealed that her kidney was a match for Rakshita's. The treatment was performed at Fortis Hospital on Bannerghatta Road, and the hospital claimed it was the first paediatric kidney transplant in the state.

"Cardiovascular disease accounts for a mortality rate of 36 per cent among all paediatric patients with such a condition, 34 per cent among those undergoing dialysis, and 11 per cent of all paediatric deaths after transplantation", said Doctors from the hospital, as reported by The New Indian Express.

What Did Doctors Say?

On the other hand, the team of doctors assured that the surgery was a success. The child responded well to the treatment, with creatinine normalising to 0.46 mg/dl on the third postoperative day and EF improving to 44 per cent one week later.

"Her condition was deteriorating," said Dr Mohan Keshavamurthy, Director of Urology at Fortis Hospitals. "Due to her grave situation, the mother chose to donate her kidney in order to give her daughter a new lease of life. We successfully completed a donor nephrectomy with laparoscopic assistance and a Da Vinci Xi Robot-assisted Paediatric Renal Transplant recipient operation. This is the first occurrence of Robot-Assisted Paediatric Transplant in the Fortis network. The child was able to heal with hardly any discomfort and morbidity. She'd arrived in a wheelchair at the hospital and walked away with contagious energy", Dr Keshavamurthy said.

Team Of Doctors

A multi-disciplinary team of doctors from Fortis Hospital, including Dr Aashish Parekh, Consultant - Nephrology, Dr Yogesh Gupta, Consultant - Paediatrics, and Dr Shivanand Patil, Consultant - Interventional Cardiology, as well as the Anaesthesia team led by Dr Murali Chakravarthy, Director, Anaesthesiology and Dr Ashok Anand, Consultant-Anaesthesiology were involved in surgery.

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