CardiacSurgery

Path-breaking Heart Surgery at Chettinad Health City

Chettinad Health City (CHC), a state-of-art multi-specialty hospital at Kelammbakkam on the IT Corridor Chennai, has now to its credit a rare surgery — Pulmonary Thromboendarterectomy (PTE). Dr R Ravi Kumar, Director, Institute of Cardiovascular Disease & Robotic Surgery Center, CHC performed the surgery on a 54-year-old man, who had a history of shortness of breath, chest discomfort, giddiness for last three to four months. The patient has recovered and doing well.

"Many people experience blood clots in their lungs (pulmonary emboli). In a small percentage, the clots do not dissolve but stick to the vessel wall and obstruct blood flow. The result is chronic pulmonary thromboembolic disease - not so uncommon but surgically treatable cause of pulmonary hypertension and right heart failure. PTE disease is seriously under-diagnosed in patients. The surgery is complex and very few centers across the world perform the PTE," said Dr Ravi Kumar.

The patient is cooled to 18° C, the heart is stopped, the blood circulation in the body is stopped (hypothermic circulatory arrest) and the operation is performed in an expeditious way. The operation needs surgical skills and precision of the highest standards. Further more, this is cohesive teamwork with expert anesthesiologists, perfusionists, nurses and paramedical staff, added Dr Ravi Kumar. The benefits of PTE are significant. "Most patients after surgery no longer suffer from shortness of breath and therefore have a much-improved quality of life. Further, pulmonary vascular resistance drops back to close normal levels. As a result of the operation, patients are spared from pulmonary hypertension and further right ventricular failure," said Dr Ravi Kumar.

Said Venkat Phanidhar, CEO, CHC," We have invested Rs 40 crore on special equipment inclusive of Rs 25 crore in the Institute of Cardio Vascular Disease."

EH News Bureau