Rare heart surgery performed at MIOT hospitals

S Nithya Kamakshi - Chennai

MIOT multi-specialty hospital, Chennai performed a unique heart surgery on 24-year-old patient Kala, who was suffering from hole in the heart (Ventricular Septal Defect), an opening ductus arteriosus that failed to close at birth. In addition, she had a large aneurysm of pulmonary artery.

Said Dr V V Bashi, cardiac surgeon, who operated upon the patient, “Kala’s case is a miracle as many patients with such a condition would have died at a young age. It is a miracle that she has grown up with the defect.” Dr Bashi has performed more than 150 aneurysm corrections in the past 15 years.

Being considered a high-risk case many doctors and well-known hospitals refused to take up her case. Kala’s parents have been moving from one hospital to another for the last five years but no one assured that she would survive an operation. After initial tests, the surgeons from MIOT hospitals detected a large VSD, large PDA, large aneurysm of pulmonary artery and severe pulmonary hypertension.

VSD with PDA is not a rare condition, which occurs in children. But the same with a large ventricular septal defect with large pulmonary artery aneurysm and severe pulmonary hypertension is very rare in adult patients. The patient would not have been in an operable state, if delayed even by a month and in due course would have led to progressive pulmonary hypertension and heart failure. Dr K Srinivasa Babu, Dr Aju Jacob, nurses, perfusion experts and other staff, assisted Dr Bashi in the surgery.

The uniqueness of the surgery was that the patient was connected to the heart lung machine and the blood was cryo preserved at 20 degree celsius. The body circulation was temporarily reduced and the PDA was closed with a patch of cloth. The hole in the ventricular septum was closed with another patch and the aneurysm of the pulmonary artery was resected and repaired. The surgical procedure lasted for four and a half hours. “She would be a normal girl from now on and she can even continue with her bookbinding work,” confirmed doctors.

Says her mother Maniammal, “We had petitioned the Prime Minister and Chief Minister in this regard, but we have not received any reply yet. Now we have borrowed money at high interest for the surgery.” Her parents managed to pay little more than one lakh for the operations with the remaining 1.5 lakh being waived off by the hospital because of the poor economic background of the family.