Doctors in Chennai attempted a first-of-its kind surgery with the pancreas harvested from a 20-year-old brain-dead person from Coimbatore. The surgery – the transplant of the pancreas alone – was done by the doctors at Chennai Apollo Hospital.

Pancreas is a large elongated exocrine gland in the body, located behind the stomach. Pancreas secretes pancreatic juice and insulin. The gland is usually transplanted along with the kidneys for patients whose kidneys were damaged due to diabetes.

A special Green Corridor was created from the Chennai airport to the hospital, with the help of the traffic police, in order to transport the organ to the hospital. The transplant surgery was performed by the team of surgeons led by Dr. Anil Vaidya at the Centre for Liver Disease and Transplantation, Apollo Hospitals.

The organ was transplanted to a 33-year-old insulin-dependent diabetic with hypoglycemia unawareness, which makes the patient remain unaware of their dropping blood sugar levels. They do not exhibit the typical signs of decreasing blood sugar like intense sweating and palpitation of the heart.