A father who possesses a bleeding disorder that obstructs clotting has provided a kidney to his son, who inherited the ailment from his parents.

The surgery that took place in September has so far been successful, though it involved far greater risks than other kidney transplants.

Tilak Gurung, 30, from Bhutan, had a kidney failure and needed a transplant. He has a deficiency of factor VIII, a protein crucial to stopping bleeding and forming clots.

Planning and conducting a surgery, that too an organ transplant, in someone with factor VII deficiency is tough, doctors said.

Tilak was undergoing dialysis for months before he decided to go for the transplant.

“The donor, father of the recipient, was a carrier of the factor VII deficiency gene. The son inherited the deficiency from his parents, both of whom are carriers,” said Deepak Shankar Ray, consultant and chief nephrologist (renal transplant programme) at Rabindranath Tagore International Institute of Cardiac Sciences, where Tilak underwent the transplant on September 17.

For Gurung, any surgery carries more risks than others. A transplant surgery was even more challenging because there was always a possibility of the new organ being rejected. Managing all
these factors required precise planning and coordination among doctors.

A kidney from Tilak’s father, Dil Kumar, 50, was retrieved through a laparoscopic surgery, but the transplant needed an open cut surgery. “The transplant needs an open cut surgery. We were conducting a kidney transplant on a patient who could have lost his life to even minor bleeding,” said a doctor.

Tilak, a musician who also runs an electronics shop, was released three weeks after the transplant. He is still in Calcutta with his mother, Dhan Maya, 52, and brother Sonam, 31. The family is likely to return to Bhutan in December.

Dil Kumar went back home about two weeks ago. “During the surgery and in the 48 hours after the surgery, we were conducting tests every 15 minutes,” said Ray.

Doctors had procured 46 units of factor VII for the surgery. Each unit costs about ₹60,000. About 35 units have already been used.

The Bhutan government bore all the expenses.

Things took a turn for the worse when Tilak suffered a stroke a few weeks after the surgery. He still has blurry speech but is recovering, his brother Sonam said.

Apart from Ray, the team of doctors included Titisa Sarkar Mitra from the anaesthesia, Sisir Kumar Patra from haematology, and Tarshid Ali Jahangir from general surgery.

“We are thankful to the King and the Bhutan government,” said Sonam.