SMS doctors conduct country's first stem cell kidney transplant

JAIPUR: The SMS Medical College here has added yet another feather in its cap by being the first hospital in the country to have successfully carried out a kidney transplant with stem cell technology. The surgery was conducted on a 35-year-old man on June11 who has now been taken out of post-transplant medication. He may not requireany future medication and has been showing steady recovery, saiddoctors."It is the second only such procedure recorded in the worldwhere a transplant patient has been completely withdrawn of the post-transplantdrugs," said Dr L C Sharma, head of the department of nephrology.Theimmunity level of the patient, Hari Singh -- a Jhunjhunu resident -- againstother diseases is also much better and doctors expect the transplanted kidney tolast longer. According to doctors, nine weeks past the operation, they havestopped the use of immunosuppressant medications and he may not require regularintake of medicines unlike other patients of kidney transplant. "Apatient's body looks at the kidney as a foreign body and tries to damage thetransplanted organ. The immunosuppressant medications are thus necessary for anordinary kidney transplant patient," said Dr Sharma. However,injection of the stem cell in the patient helps in developing a harmony betweenthe patient's body and the transplanted organ. Thus, the need ofimmunosuppressant drugs is reduced. Though such attempts have previously beenmade in Gujarat, they they have been unable to reach complete independence fromthe immunosuppressant treatment post the transplant, said doctors.Hari Singh was diagnosed with a kidney failure in 2009 and wasreferred to SMS hospital in March 2010. The doctors at nephrology departmentselected him for the innovative treatment as he was to receive the kidney fromhis mother, which is a more suitable case for the new technique. Theproposal for the surgery was presented at the Indian Council for MedicalResearch (ICMR) and it was approved by a 19-member team after an evaluation ofall the possible aspects. The transplant was done by Dr P C Sadasukhi of urologydepartment, SMS hospital while Dr L C Sharma and Dr Shimon Slavin from Israelwere chief advisors. With an aid of nearly Rs 8.5 lakh from ICMR,two kidney transplants were held on June 11. While the first patient (HariSingh) received the kidney through the stem cell technology, the other got itthrough regular technique. In both the cases, the transplant costwas around Rs 2 lakh. However, the patient with regular transplant still has totake immunosuppressant drugs of nearly Rs 1.5 lakh per year. The stem cellpatient, on the other hand, has shown steady recovery and does not require anysort of medication. However, doctors have kept him under regular observation asthe technique is still in research phase. Despite the benefits theprocess is still under research stage and it will only after studying theresults over next few years that the facility is expected to become availablefor the common patients. SMS Medical College has received permission to performonly one such operation. However, following the success, it is expected thatthey may be allowed to repeat it on a couple of other patients."Thefirst such operation was reported from a medical school in Boston. As part ofthe process, five patients were transplanted using the process. Of these, fourwere withdrawn from the immunosuppressant drugs in duration of nearly one year.The kidney functionality of the patients were found unaffected even after acouple of years," said Dr L C Sharma.