Delhi doctors perform Asia's first 'post-death bloodflow' organ revival using ECMO

Doctor Shrikanth Srinivasan, Chairman of the Manipal Institute of Critical Care Medicine at HCMCT Manipal Hospital, Dwarka, has led a pioneering medical procedure, the first in Asia, where a deceased patient’s organs were revived using a heart-lung machine after death, enabling successful transplantation.

- TDG NETWORK

According to a release, 55-year-old Geeta Chawla, who had been paralysed due to Motor Neuron Disease, was admitted to Manipal Hospital, Dwarka, on November 5 with breathing difficulties. After her family decided against putting her on life support, she passed away on November 6 at 8:43 pm. Honouring her wish to donate organs, the medical team swiftly initiated a procedure known as Normothermic Regional Perfusion (NRP).

A large team of doctors then swung intoaction. For the first time in Asia, her circulation was restarted by placing her on an Ex-traCorporeal Membrane Oxygenator (ECMO). Restoration of blood flow kept her abdominal organs alive as she was moved to the OT, and transplant teams retrieved her liver and kidneys.

The procedure, called Normothermic Regional Perfusion (NRP), kept the organs alive for 4 hours after death, allowing urgent allotment of organs by NOTTO (National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation).