By OUR STAFF REPORTER
Dehradun, 20 Sep: Specialists at Graphic Era Hospital have established a new milestone by replacing two heart valves together without any incision in a very critical case. In North India’s medical field, this is being considered as first-of-its-kind case.
The Director of Graphic Era’s Cath Lab and Head of Cardiology Department, Dr Raj Pratap Singh, informed journalists, today, that two heart valves of a 70-year-old former soldier have been replaced together without any incision. This patient, a resident of Karnprayag, was brought to Graphic Era Hospital this week in a state of heart failure. The patient had undergone open heart surgery about 12 years ago during which two valves were implanted. It was revealed in an ECHO that these two valves have deteriorated and were not working, putting the patient’s life at risk. It was essential to replace both valves but the risk was greate. Generally, in cases where the risk exceeds 20%, operations are not performed but here immediate treatment was necessary to save the patient’s life.
Dr Raj Pratap said that there is no technology other than open heart surgery to replace both valves together. Performing open heart surgery a second time carries high risk. Considering the high risk nature of the case and to save the patient’s life, it was decided that the valves would be replaced using Trans Catheter Aortic Valve Replacement Technique (TAVR) without any incision. This technique is used in replacing the aortic valve specifically. The Specialists at Graphic Era changed both the aortic valve and the mitral valve using this technique.
He said that no incision was made for this procedure. While open heart surgery usually takes up to 5 hours and carries risk, this procedure was completed in just 1 hour. After the replacement of both valves using this technique, the health of patient has seen significant improvement. Once his condition was better, he was discharged from the hospital after 48 hours.
The team of specialists included Dr Himanshu Rana, Dr Akhilesh Pandey and Dr SP Gautam. Present at the press conference were Dean, Medical College, Dr Nitin Bansal and other officials.
Chairman of Graphic Era Group of Institutions Dr Kamal Ghanshala congratulated the team of specialists on this remarkable achievement and said that it is very important to save lives with minimum discomfort to the patients.
