The 13^th annual meeting of the Indian society of organ transplantation was held from 26^th-28^th Septemeber 2002 at Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate institute of medical Sciences, Lucknow. Almost 100 national and six international invited delegates participated in the conference.

On 26^th Sept a preconference workshop of live donor nephrectomy was organized and three surgeries were shown. A laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy by Prof. Mohan Rao, from Adelaide, demonstrated “hand-assisted laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy”. The patient was a 35 year old male donating a kidney to his father. A lap disc was used as a hand assisted device. Dr. Rao’s technique was different from the usually described technique. He applied the hand-assisted device at the very start of the operation in the left iliac fossa but he did not insert his hand till the later part of the operation. Almost the whole surgery was done laparoscopically and at the end he inserted his hand for the final dissection and vessel division. The kidney was removed within 3 minutes. Laparoscopic disc was seen to be very useful: as one has the advantage of using conventional laparoscopic instrument through lap disc without losing pneumoperitoneum.

The second case was “Classical technique of laparoscopic live donor nephrectomy: which was demonstrated by Dr. Anant Kumar on a 55 year old male who donated his kidney to his son. The operation took a little longer due to lymphatic reaction and adhesions around the vessel and adherent perinephric fat. Vessels were clipped with the help of hemolock clips. Only single clip was applied over the artery and vein each as there was early bifurcation of the arteries. With the help of single hemolock clip, single arterial lumen could be achieved even though there was early bifurcation ( 8mm from the origin). The kidney was retrieved with a 5 cm incision made in the left iliac fossa and two fingers were inserted in the abdomen. Perinephric fat was grabbed and kidney was pulled out.

A mini-donor nephrectomy surgery was demonstrated with a 7 cm incision in a 60 year old female. The patient was thin and there was no perinephric reaction. So, kidney was retrieved within 45 min.

All the 3 donors recovered very well and were discharged on the 3^rd day of the surgery. All 3 recipients did very well and there was no ATN. No surgical complication. Only one recipient developed rejection which was successfully reversed. There was interesting live interaction between the audience and operating team. The participants asked questions on every aspect of the operation and the faculty answered them readily.

The conference started with the presidential oration of Prof. K.S. Chugh. He emphasized the ethics of renal transplantation and exploitation of paid donors under this legal cover of authorization committee. He very strongly recommended that the law should be changed so thet unrelated donors could be stopped. HE also recommended that only the first and 2nd degree blood relative should be allowed to donate a kidney without need of the authorization committee sanction. 

The conference was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Governor of U.P., Sri Vishnukant Shastri. The role of SGPGI as a major institution was highlighted. Prof. K. S. Chugh, President of ISOT, once again emphasized the need to stop paid unrelated transplantation under the umbrella of authorization committee. Dr. Ananat Kumar highlighted the following achievements made by the ISOT in the last few years including:

1. Functioning ISOT website.

2. Organizing National Transplant Registry

3. Constitution of the ISOT being re-written.

He also emphaized that ISOT had emerged as a single national body to represent all kinds of transplantation and has representation on the Asian Society of Transplantation.

The following guest lecturers were delivered during the conference:

1. Ethics of kidney transplantation- Dr. K.S. Chugh, chandigarth
2. CMV in renal transplantation- Dr. Ali Bakran, uk
3. Mini-incision donor nephrectomy- Dr. Ali Bakran, UK
4. HCV in Renal transplantation –Dr. S. K. Agarwal, N. Delhi
5. History of pancreas transplant achievements & the lessons learnt – Dr. Ajay Sharma, UK
6. Surgical advances in renal replacement therapy. Dr. Mohan Rao, Australia
7. Transplant from non-heart bearing donor- Dr. D. Talbot , Newcastle, UK
8. Role of newer immnunosuppression for a developing country – Dr. A. Vathsala, Singapore
9. Pre-emptive transplantation – Dr. J. Chapman Australia
10. Optimal Manipulation of newer immunosuppressive agents for long-term graft outcome
11. Tuberculosis in renal transplantation –Dr. R.K. Sharma, Lucknow
12. Perspectives in islet transplantation –Dr. A. Agarwal, Lucknow

Every year the Indian society of organ transplantation honors a transplant scientist, who has made a significant contribution in the field of transplantation, with the JM Patel oration. He did the first renal transplantation in India and to date has performed over 3000 renal transplants. On this occasion he delivered a lecture on "Surgical Advances in Renal Replacement Therapy". 

There was three interesting symposiums:

A. Video Symposium on surgical techniques

The following surgical techniques were demonstrated to the audience by out very experienced faculty members:

1. Laparoscopic Live Donor Nephrectomy- Dr. Anant Kumar
2. Lap Implantation of CAPD Catheter – Dr. A. Devasia
3. Vascular Access- Dr. S. Sagode
4. Cadaveric Organ Retrieval – Dr. Omesh Oza                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    B. Symposium on Pediatric Transplantation:

Following lectures were delivered by the distinguished faculty members:

1. Pre-emptive renal transplantation- Dr. J. T. John, Vellore
2. Ethics of pediatric renal transplants- Dr. R.V Phad, Bangalore
3. Medical management of pediatric renal transplants- Dr. S. Gulati, Lucknow
4. Surgical Aspects of Pediatric Renal Transplantation – Dr. A. Kumar, Lucknow
5. Feasibility of Neonatal liver transplantation in India- Dr. A. Sibbal, New Delhi

It was emphasized that pre-emptive renal transplantation should be done in pediatric age group and the result of pediatric transplant were as good as adult population transplant. Dr. Sibbal shared his experience with pediatric liver transplantation at Apollo Hospital, New Delhi.

C. Symposium of IL2 Antibody Prophyiaxis

The following participants delivered the guest lectures.

1. Basiliximab – Redefining immunosuppressive strategies. Dr. V. Kher, Delhi
2. Basiliximab – The Indian experience – Dr. V. Siwach Amritsar
3. Does IL2 Receptors Blockade Reduce Rejection – Dr. G. Abraham, Vellore
4. Basiliximab -  Global Experience & Pharmaco Economics – Dr. A Kumar, Lucknow

There was an interesting debate on “Should unrelated transplant be legalized.” Dr.Balal and Dr.A.V.Sonin spoke in favour and Dr. Bhandari spoke against legalizing unrelated transplants. The debaters expressed their view points with substantial data.

There was an interesting panel discussion on Cadaveric Transplantation conducted by Dr. Sunil Shroff from MOHAN Foundation. The following participants participated in this panel discussion.

1. Dr. Vatsala Trivedi – Mumbai
2. Dr. Keshav Rao- National Law School, Mumbai
3. Dr. P.V.L.N. Murthy, Hyderabad
4. Dr. J.T. John – CMC Vellore
5. Mr. Suresh Gupta – Consultant MOHAN  & Member EBI, Hyderabad

There was a separate parallel session on liver transplantation. In this session 10 renowned faculty members participated and discussed in great details the problem faced in India to initiate the liver transplantation programme.

The general body elected Dr. RVS Yadav as the next president of ISOT along with Dr. R. K. Sharma as the Secretary. The conference had a good mix of surgical, medical and immunological aspects of transplantation. Almost all the aspects of transplantations were discussed. The social programme on the 27^th was exhilarating and had the traditional cultural flavor of the city of Lucknow and Kathak dances were performed.

It was a very interesting session and a few interesting cases were presented and discussed by the panelist. There was active participation from the floor.

The conference had a good mix of surgical, medical and immunological aspects of transplantation. Almost all the aspects of transplantations were discussed. There was a separate parallel session on liver transplantation.

In this session 10 renowned faculties participated and discussed in great details the problems faced in India to initiate the liver transplantation.

The social programme was excellent. There were grand gala dinners on 26^th, 27^th & 28^th and Kathak dances were performed on 27^th September after the inauguration and it as sponsored by the UP Cultural Department.