Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Center, Kochi, is in the process of setting up a homograft bank that will be the second such bank to preserve aorta and pulmonary arteries from deceased donors in Kerala. This homograft bank of Amrita Hospital will benefit children who have an infection of the valves. In the absence of aorta and pulmonary arteries, they must rely on bovine or artificial ones which are expensive. This can also increase the risk of infection. While bovine aorta and pulmonary arteries cost around Rs 1 lakh, an artificial one costs around Rs 80,000 to Rs 1 lakh. In the homograft transplant, the cost is reduced to around Rs 10,000.

“We have the necessary instruments and obtained the licence to retain the aorta and pulmonary arteries from accident and suicide victims. This will be done with the deceased’s relatives consent and in coordination with the police surgeon,” said Dr. Sanjeev K. Singh, Medical Superintendent, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Center, Kochi.

“There is no substitute for the human aorta and pulmonary artery and homograft implants will drastically reduce infection risk. However, in homograft transplants, we need to replace the organs as the child grows. In their lifetime, they would need three transplants,” explained Dr. Praveen Varma, Head, Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences & Research Center, Kochi.