AIIMS gets first bone donar in 2022. Check details!

In a significant development, the bone bank of AIIMS Delhi received its first donation of the year 2022, for transplant after a serving soldier agreed to donate his 28-year-old brain dead wife’s bones at R&R Hospital, where she was being treated after a cylinder blast at their house in Gwalior over a week ago.

TOI has confirmed that the institute received bones on December 17, after a gap of almost three years as the last such donation was done in March 2020. So far, bones of 30 people have been donated since the bank’s inception in 1999.

How is it done?

Professsor Malhotra, who set up the bank bone at AIIMS, claimed that not every bone from the body is taken out, except the eight lower limbs, including the two kneecaps. Ligaments and cartilages of the knee between me the thigh and shin bone can also be retrieved.

“Once the bones are taken out, the body is reconstructed by putting wooden sticks and stuffing with cotton to restore the shape of the limbs and knee so that it looks good aesthetically and the dignity of the donor is maintained. Cotton is used to absorb fluids and the body is not left in a puddle of blood after the procedure,” said Malhotra.

Significance:

Dr. Rajesh Malhotra, Chief of AIIMS Trauma Centre and head of the Orthopaedics Department said that the donated bones can be used for replacing lost segments due to cancer , injury or infection and also in revision joint replacement cases.

“They can also be used to fill cavities or holes left by major cancer surgeries. One person’s bones can benefit at least 20 people,” said Dr Rajesh Malhotra, chief of AIIMS Trauma Centre and head of the orthopedics department.

However, R&R Hospital Authorities informed that they have retrieved the bones of a brain dead patient for the first time.

“The woman’s femur, tibia fibula and patella with the tendons were given to AIIMS and would be shared with them, if needed for a patient,” a senior doctor at R&R Hospital told The Quotes.

Reason behind fewer bone donation:

According to Professor Malhotra, the lack of knowledge, misconceptions and religious sentiments were the major reasons behind fewer bone donations.

“People believe that taking out bones will mutilate and disfigure the body and the limbs and the dead person will dangle. It’s completely incorrect. Another doubt which lot of people have is that donating bones will reduce the quantity of ash on cremation,” he said.