Guwahati: Rare Cardiac Surgery Performed At City Hospital

Guwahati-based Excelcare Hospitals recently performed a very rare and complex cardiac surgery setting a new benchmark in healthcare in the region.

The complex surgery was performed by the CTVS team of Excelcare Hospitals led by Dr. Manuj Saikia, Dr. Intekhab Alam, and Dr. Dangeti Santhosh Kumar (Consultant Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgeons) registering it as the first instance of such a case in Assam and the Northeast.

The patient, a 39-year-old lady from Tarinipur, Silchar presented with heavy chest pain, severe breathing difficulty along with bluish discoloration of lips and peripheries.

She had a room air saturation of just 65% whereas a normal person usually has a room air saturation of >95%. Upon investigation by the Cardiac Sciences team, it was ascertained that the patient was suffering from a very rare congenital cardiac anomaly known as 'Ebstein's Anomaly', a congenital heart defect that occurs in 1 per 200000 live births and accounting for <1% of all cases of congenital heart disease. In this condition, the right-sided valve of the heart known as the Tricuspid Valve is damaged since birth, causing leakage of blood.

Since the patient presented with a lot of complications, the team of surgeons explained in great detail about the defect in the heart and the need for an immediate corrective surgery, along with the risks associated.

The major associated risk was her low weight, weighing just 31Kg at the time of admission. The team of surgeons first decided to build up the nutrition of the patient, so that she could withstand the stress of such a major open-heart surgery. After detailed planning, she was finally operated upon, where her damaged right-sided valve was changed and a major draining vein to the heart, the Superior Vena Cava was cut from the heart and re-routed to the lungs directly. This is considered a very complex surgery and is only done at a few dedicated Cardiac Surgery Centers in India known as 'One and Half Ventricle Repair'.

Dr. Intekhab Alam reported that the patient was stable and recovery after surgery has been good. "Her saturation at room air is now >95%. She has also gained some weight, now weighing 37Kg and has been duly discharged. We were well supported by the Department of Cardiology & Pediatric Cardiology during the course of treatment of this particular patient".

The patient's family members expressed their gratitude to Excelcare Hospitals stating that initially they had consulted several prominent Hospitals in South India but due to extremely high degree of risk, in view of her low saturation and weakness (dysfunction) of both sides of the heart (around 35%) their case was not taken up. "It was then we decided to come back and finally found refuge at Excelcare Hospitals Guwahati where she has got a new lease of life," said the patient's brother.