Arpan K. Banerjee
Solihull, UK
In 1902, French surgeon Alexis Carrel described a technique for suturing blood vessels. In the 1930s, he developed a perfusion pump that laid the foundations for organ transplantation. In the 1950s, pioneering kidney transplants were carried out by Joseph Murray in Boston and others in the US. Liver transplants were pioneered by Thomas Starzl in the 1960s, and by the end of the decade, Christiaan Barnard carried out the first heart transplant in South Africa. Important work on transplant immunology and graft rejection by Peter Medawar, Roy Calne, and others paved the way for improved transplant success rates.
Today, organ transplants are performed in many countries, a triumphant achievement of advances in technology and medicine. Although much has been written about the science behind the techniques, there is little in the literature documenting the transplant experience from the patient’s perspective. This is particularly the case in developing countries. In the US, over 50,000 transplants are performed per year, whereas in India, where the population is four times larger, the number barely reaches 20,000.
This remarkable book about the transplant experience in patients from India is an eye-opener. In a country where organ donation is low due to religious beliefs and personal prejudices, transplants are a very expensive and often unaffordable option for many patients. In the first section of the book, the experience of patients undergoing heart transplants at a major transplant unit in Chennai are movingly chronicled. The individual, diverse stories of patients, both adults and children from all backgrounds, are sometimes a harrowing read. However, they are well written and edited, and they serve to remind all readers of the sanctity of life and how precious health is.
Each person movingly describes their experiences of illness and feelings, including a fear of death and immense gratitude for a second lease on life, often from anonymous donors. Every day is fully appreciated and lived with zest and positivity, despite hardships and complications, which are often part of the transplant experience.
The book has been beautifully put together by the editor, herself a transplant recipient and former English professor in Mumbai. It includes an interview with a heart transplant surgeon in Chennai, leading the team doing this heroic work. The sections cover heart, lung, liver, and kidney transplant recipients. Interviews with other surgeons and physicians involved with transplants complement the chapters on patient experiences. In the final section, contributions from caregivers, transplant coordinators, and issues around organ donation and funding for transplants in India bring the book to a conclusion.
This book should be read by all who wish to gain an insight into the best of humanity. Remarkable technological advances in health care have enabled what was once science fiction to become an almost routine life-saving procedure.
New Life. New Beginnings: Compelling Stories by Organ Recipients, Donors, and Doctors
Viney Kirpal
Sterling Publishers Pvt., 2025
ISBN 978-9393853752
DR. ARPAN K. BANERJEE qualified in medicine at St Thomas’s Hospital Medical School. London. He was a consultant radiologist in Birmingham 1995–2019. He was President of the radiology section of the RSM 2005–2007 and on the scientific committee of the Royal College of Radiologists 2012–2016. He was Chairman of the British Society for the History of Radiology 2012–2017. He is Chairman of ISHRAD. He is author/co-author of papers on a variety of clinical, radiological, and medical historical topics and eight books, including Classic Papers in Modern Diagnostic Radiology (2005) and The History of Radiology (OUP 2013).
To contact Sterling Publishers Pvt., please reach out to us or Dr. Banerjee.