Lung transplants

Surgeons led by an Indian-origin doctor have given a new set of lungs to a young woman with severe lung damage from the coronavirus, a surgery believed to be the first of its kind in the US since the pandemic began. Northwestern Medicine in Chicago said the recipient is the woman in her 20s who would not have survived without the transplant. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and surgical director of Northwestern's lung transplant programme, said organ transplantation may become more frequent for victims of the most severe forms of COVID-19. "This is one of the toughest transplants I've done," he said. "This was truly one of the most challenging cases." Meerut-born Bharat said. "I certainly expect some of these patients will have such severe lung injury that they will not be able to carry on without transplant," said Dr. Bharat. "This could serve as a lifesaving intervention," the paper quoted him as saying. The patient, who has not been publicly identified, was on immunosuppressant medication for a previous condition when she contracted the coronavirus, he said. Perhaps for that reason, the virus devastated her lungs, leaving physicians few options, it said.