KOCHI: Jenisha Varghese, the patient who successfully underwent the state’s first heart lung transplant at Lissie hospital, was discharged on Monday. The 24-year-old woman from Kuttambuzha underwent a complicated heart lung transplant in the first week of January. Her lungs and heart were successfully transplanted by a medical team led by eminent cardiologist Dr. Jose Chacko Periyapuram. Jenisha, suffering from a rare congenital heart defect called Eisenm-enger’s disease, was advised a simultaneous heart lung transplant.

Her name was enrolled with the Kerala Network of Organ Sharing to identify a suitable donor. After a long wait, it was on January 6 that the organs of Nithin, who was declared brain dead at Lakeshore Hospital after sustaining serious injuries in a road mishap, were found to match Jenisha. After the complex surgical procedure, Jenisha recovered, slowly and steadily. A team of doctors and paramedical staff closely monitored her condition. A lung and cardiac biopsy were done to ensure that the transplanted organs had been accepted by her body.


The result of the biopsy, done at Chennai, was satisfactory indicating that the organs had been accepted and were functioning normally. Jenisha has been moved to a rented apartment near the hospital for convenience and easy access to medical care and further follow up. Hospital director Fr. Thomas Vaikathup-arambil and the team of doctors led by Dr. Periyapuram bid farewell to Jenisha.