Two brothers from the same family received heart transplants 11 years apart after being diagnosed with advanced Dilated Cardiomyopathy (DCM), a progressive disease that weakens the heart muscle and causes severe heart failure.
Both surgeries were conducted by Dr ZS Meharwal, Chairman and Head of Adult Cardiac Surgery, Heart Transplantation and VAD Programme at Fortis Escorts, Okhla, New Delhi.
The elder brother first exhibited symptoms at 16, initially experiencing unexplained fatigue which later developed into severe breathlessness, leg swelling, and recurrent heart failure. Medical evaluation revealed advanced DCM, characterised by enlargement and weakening of the heart muscle that impairs blood pumping ability. Despite intensive treatment, his condition worsened, leading to a heart transplant at Fortis Escorts Okhla in 2015.
Over a decade later, the younger brother, then aged 27 and previously healthy, developed similar symptoms including progressive breathlessness, reduced exercise capacity, and recurrent hospital admissions for heart failure. Clinical evaluation confirmed end-stage DCM, and heart transplantation became his only viable treatment option.
The transplant involved technical challenges due to differences in the size of donor and recipient blood vessels, requiring specialised surgical techniques. Nevertheless, the procedure was successfully completed within the critical timeframe necessary for donor heart implantation. The donor was a 37-year-old male from Rohtak who died from an intracranial haemorrhage.
Following the transplant, the younger brother recovered steadily and was discharged in stable condition after thorough post-operative care and monitoring.
Dr ZS Meharwal said, “Fortis Escorts Okhla has successfully performed 23 heart transplants, reflecting the institute’s growing expertise and advanced capabilities in managing complex end-stage heart failure cases. With every transplant, our commitment remains the same: to save lives and offer patients a renewed chance at healthy living through excellence in cardiac care and transplantation.”
He added, “Following the diagnosis of the younger sibling, doctors advised cardiac screening for other family members. Their journey underscores both the devastating reach of genetic heart disease and the extraordinary advances in modern heart transplantation that can offer survival and renewed life even in the most complex cases.”
Dr Vishal Rastogi, Director of Cardiology at Fortis Escorts, Okhla, explained, “This pattern is strongly suggestive of familial cardiomyopathy, where an inherited genetic mutation can remain silent for years before gradually weakening the heart muscle. What appears to be unexplained heart failure in one individual may, in fact, reflect an underlying family-wide risk that can affect multiple relatives at different stages of life.”
Dr Vikram Aggarwal, Facility Director and Vice-President at Fortis Escorts, Okhla, stated, “To our knowledge, this is the first reported case in India of two brothers who were suffering from familial cardiomyopathy and underwent successful heart transplantation 11 years apart. It is also interesting that both brothers were operated on at the same hospital by the same surgical team. The second transplant changed the way the entire family viewed the illness. What once seemed like an isolated tragedy became clear evidence of a shared genetic risk.”