MGM Healthcare, a multi-specialty quaternary care hospital in Chennai, announced today that it had successfully performed a complex bilateral lung transplant on a one-year-old boy from Chennai who has become world’s youngest recipient to undergo a bilateral lung transplantation.

A 30-member team under the leadership of Dr KR Balakrishnan, Chairman- Cardiac Sciences and Director at Institute of the Heart and Lung Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support, MGM Healthcare successfully performed this procedure on the patient on 24th August, 2021.

Speaking about the patient Dr Balakrishnan explained, “The patient was diagnosed with bronchopulmonary dysplasia and was put on ventilator from birth as his oxygen saturation was extremely low. It was extremely challenging for us to transplant the lungs as there was size mismatch between the donor and the recipient.”

Dr Suresh Rao KG, Co-Director of Heart and Lung Transplantation Programme & Mechanical Circulatory Support, MGM Healthcare told that the child’s lungs were not recovering and there was no other option left than a bilateral lung transplantation. He further said, “The child was fortunate to get a pair of lungs from a brain dead pediatric patient. This is the youngest child on whom we have done a lung transplant. The child is stable in the ICU.”

Adding to the statement Dr Balakrishnan said, “It is a testimony to the sincerity and skill of our nurses in Chennai that this child is alive today. It is a Herculean task anywhere in the world to perform dual-lung transplant on such a small child without any complications.”

Parents of the child extended their gratitude to the MGM Healthcare team and the donor for giving our son a fresh lease of life.