Indian-origin doctor finds ‘solution’ to problem of organ preservation

Malathy Iyer,TNN | Feb 21, 2014, 12.43 AM IST


MUMBAI: A Mumbai-born doctor could well revolutionize the world of organ transplants. Dr Hemant Thatte, a senior cardiovascular surgeon at Harvard University who was born in Dadar and raised in Pune, has worked out a 21-chemical solution that could preserve a donated organ for up to a week before a transplant. 

"Preliminary studies have shown that hearts stored in SOMAH solution (as the new preservative is called) for 24 hours can be resuscitated without medicines as against other solutions that allow for only four hours," said Dr Thatte via email. In studies conducted on pigs, the solution has been effective in preserving tissues for up to a week. 

Organs retrieved from brain-dead persons are stored for a few hours before being transported to various departments or hospitals for transplant. At present, hearts and lungs need to be transplanted within 4-6 hours of being recovered from a brain-dead donor, the liver within eight hours and kidneys within a little more than 24 hours. 

What SOMAH—the Sanskrit name for the elixir of immortality—can do is preserve organs long enough to be transported across a large country or half-way across the globe. "Current technologies require that organs from cadaver donors be transplanted within a small window of 4-6 hours. If the transplant surgery cannot take place within that time, the available organ cannot be used. Moreover, the available organs cannot be transported long-distance for transplant and have to be made available locally. The use of SOMAH expands that small window to seven days,'' he said. 

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