All in a family: Two transplants 11 years apart and a silent genetic heart disease

NEW DELHI: In a reminder of the growing burden of inherited heart diseases in India and the urgent need for early screening and genetic testing, a 27year-old NCR-based man recently underwent a heart transplant, 11 years after his elder brother had been diagnosed with the same condition and had to undergo a transplant.The brothers developed advanced dilated cardiomyopathy, a severe heart muscle disease that often remains undetected until it reaches a dangerous stage. Both are doing fine following the transplants performed by the same surgical team led by Dr Z S Meharwal, chairman and head of adult cardiac surgery and heart transplant atFortis Escort Heart Institute. Dr Meharwal told TOI that the elder brother, now a competitive runner, first developedsymptoms of the ailment when he was just 16. What began as fatigue and breathlessness gradually worsened into swellingin the legs and repeated episodes of heart failure. Doctors diagnosed him with dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart enlarges and weakens, reducing its ability to pump blood. Despite treatment, his condition deteriorated and he had to undergo the transplant in 2015.The family believed the ordeal was over. However, over a decade later, the younger brother displayed similar symptoms. Tests confirmed end-stage dilated cardiomyopathy, leaving transplantation as the only option. The donor’s heart came from a 37-year-old man from Rohtak who had suffered an intracranial hemorrhage. Haryana and Delhi Police created a green corridor to transport the organ nearly 150 km in around 80 minutes.