K R BALAKRISHNAN
Director of Heart Lung Transplantation and Mechanical Circulatory Support, Fortis Malar Hospitals
IndiaDr.K.R.Balakrishnan is the Director of Heart Lung transplantation and mechanical circulatory support in Fortis group of hospitals, Chennai, India . He is credited with establishing the modern day heart transplant program in India with many firsts in this field, having completed over 320 heart transplants including 110 paediatric transplants.
He implanted India’s first ‘Left Ventricular Assist Device, Heartmate II and also the HVAD pump as destination therapy in 2012 India’s first use of venoarterial ECMO as a bridge to heart transplant in 2012. He did India’s first Pediatric heart transplant in a two year old child in 2013.
He did Asia Pacific’s first paediatric impellar pump implant bridged successfully to heart transplant in a child with cardiac arrest resuscitated with VA ECMO for restrictive cardiomyopathy He has several US , Australian and European patents in artificial heart pumps including for a new biomaterial, developed jointly with the department of physics, Bhabha Atomic research centre in Mumbai.