NextFin news, In a landmark medical breakthrough reported on November 9, 2025, a team of doctors at Manipal Hospital, Dwarka, New Delhi, led by Dr. Shrikanth Srinivasan, Chairman of the Manipal Institute of Critical Care Medicine, successfully restarted blood circulation in a deceased organ donor to preserve organs for transplantation. This pioneering procedure is Asia’s first application of Normothermic Regional Perfusion (NRP) using an Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenator (ECMO) to restore circulation after death, a significant advancement in organ donation technology.
The case involved a 55-year-old female patient, Geeta Chawla, who succumbed to complications from Motor Neuron Disease on November 6, 2025, after being admitted with breathing difficulties. Upon the family's decision to forgo life support and honoring her wish to donate organs, the medical team implemented the NRP technique by placing the deceased on ECMO to restart blood flow selectively to her abdominal organs. This innovative approach sustained organ viability for four hours beyond the point of circulatory death, allowing the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) to coordinate effective organ allotment and transplantation.
Geeta Chawla’s liver and kidneys were successfully transplanted into recipients in leading Delhi hospitals, with additional donations of her corneas and skin providing further hope for multiple patients. According to Dr. Srinivasan, traditional organ donation in India predominantly occurs post-brain death when circulation persists, whereas organ retrieval after circulatory death (DCD) is constrained by a narrow window due to cessation of blood flow. Restarting circulation through NRP addresses these challenges by maintaining organ perfusion, extending the critical time available for organ harvest and allocation.
Dr. Avnish Seth, a key figure in India’s organ transplant field and leader of the National Consortium on NRP, emphasized that this application of a low-cost, India-suited ECMO technology marks a milestone in addressing the chronic organ shortage in the country. India witnessed 1128 brain death donors in 2024, ranking eighth globally; however, the need for expanding organ donations after circulatory death remains urgent. With this success, India is positioned to potentially broaden transplants of multiple organs beyond liver and kidneys, including pancreas, lungs, and heart in the future.
The necessity for such medical innovation is underscored by stark transplant demand-supply gaps. Each year approximately 180,000 people in India suffer from kidney failure but only about 13,426 kidney transplants took place in 2023. Similarly, liver transplant demand far outpaces supply, with an estimated 25,000 to 30,000 needed annually but only 4491 performed. Heart transplants, crucial for those with advanced cardiac failure, numbered a mere 221 in the same year despite thousands needing them. Corneal transplants also show a deficit, with roughly 25,000 cases annually met against a requirement of 100,000.
This breakthrough reflects both technological innovation and strategic health policy alignment in India’s transplant ecosystem. The introduction of NRP utilizing ECMO can substantially increase usable organ yield from circulatory death donors, thereby improving patient outcomes and saving more lives. Furthermore, this procedure mitigates the logistical bottlenecks associated with the brief viability of organs after circulatory death by providing a longer thermal and perfusion window, enabling more organized retrieval and transplantation efforts.
From a healthcare infrastructure perspective, adopting NRP widely will necessitate investment in specialized equipment such as hybrid ECMO machines designed for the local context, robust training of medical personnel, and integration of this protocol within national organ sharing networks. Effective coordination among hospitals, organ sharing organizations, and government regulatory bodies such as NOTTO will be pivotal to scale its benefits nationwide.
Looking ahead, this advancement signifies an important shift toward optimizing organ donation frameworks amid rising chronic disease burdens and transplant needs in India. The potential expansion of NRP to include thoracic organs like lungs and heart could revolutionize transplant medicine in Asia. As expertise grows, ethical and regulatory frameworks will also evolve to address complexities inherent in post-mortem circulation restoration.
According to authoritative medical sources, global transplant practices are increasingly exploring NRP to maximize donor organ quality and availability, and this Delhi achievement marks India’s entry into this cutting-edge frontier. For a country with one of the highest absolute numbers of end-stage organ failure cases worldwide, this development carries profound implications for public health outcomes and transplant economics.
In summary, the successful revival of blood flow post-death by Delhi doctors represents a clinical and systemic breakthrough with promising impacts on bridging India’s organ shortage gap. This innovation highlights the importance of combining technology with coordinated national healthcare strategies to enhance life-saving organ transplantation, ultimately improving longevity and quality of life for patients on transplant waiting lists.
