Chandigarh: Fifteen days after surgery, the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education Research (PGIMER)’s first lung transplant recipient died on Tuesday night.

Chandigarh: Fifteen days after surgery, the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education Research (PGIMER)’s first lung transplant recipient died on Tuesday night.

Doctors have cited “generalised infection” as the reason behind her death. The lung recipient was a 34-year-old Sangrur woman, who was suffering from interstitial lung disease (ILD). Her lungs were 95% damaged.

The woman was suffering from the ailment for a couple of years, and was brought to the PGIMER after her condition deteriorated in February. She underwent lung transplant on July 11. According to the Indian legislation, the name and identity of the recipient cannot be revealed.

The surgeons said the operation was a success, but the patient developed infection after a few days. “The patient was doing relatively fine but had developed infection, which became the cause of her death. There was no organ rejection,” said Dr Ashutosh Aggarwal of the pulmonary medicine.

“My wife had started responding to the treatment,” said the recipient’s husband. “She had started talking again and had even started eating on her own. I hoped she would survive, but doctors could not save her despite best efforts.”

Her condition started deteriorating on Saturday morning and doctors performed a surgery. “But she did not open her eyes after that. On Tuesday night, I was told that she is no more,” said the husband.

“The patient’s death will not deter us from performing second lung transplant. as surgically we did not encounter any problem,” said a doctor. 

PGIMER surgeons had been planning to conduct lung transplant since 2013, when the institute got the clearance. Finally, on July 11, they performed the institute’s first lung transplant after family of a brain dead youth from Moga agreed to donate organs.

A team of over 20 surgeons and paramedics spent over 12 hours in the operation theatre, performing four organ transplants, lung transplant being the most challenging. With it, the institute became first in the northern region and probably first government hospital in the country to perform lung transplant.