Kurnool: KIMS Hospital perform rare heart surgery

Kurnool: The KIMS Hospitals in Kurnool has successfully performed a complex heart surgery on a 22-year-old female homemaker from Mominabad of Anantapur district.

According to KIMS doctors, Shaik Zabeena Tabassum from Mominabad of Anantapur district, was suffering from dissecting aortic aneurysm with bicuspid aortic valve disease. It's a congenital problem, where aorta dilated leading to complications.

Usually, we see such cases in the age of 50-70 years and those who are hypertensives and also in few syndromes, according to doctors. In general, the aortic valve has three leaflets, but this woman had only two because of the congenital problem. In such cases, initially, aortic stenosis starts, then aneurysm, finally dissects. Only 5-30 cases are found in one million population in the world. As age progresses, the valve gets tightened and complications start. The normal size of the aorta is only 2-3 cm. But, in this case, it was 5.5 cm. Even if she walks a bit more, the aorta may rupture and the patient will die in a few minutes.

From one week, the patient was experiencing chest pain and back ache, along with breathlessness for two months. When she came to KIMS Hospitals, the doctors initially did the Echo test and then went for a CT aortogram to find the problem.

To treat this patient, Dr K Sandeep Reddy, Consultant Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeon took up this challenging and most complex surgery with many risks. Bentalls procedure is the only way to treat such cases, which itself is one of the most complex cardiac surgeries. Usually, 60-70 per cent of the patients die if they don't get treated. The in-hospital mortality rate is also 20-30 per cent. Bleeding and other complications will be present during the procedure.

In such cases, the procedure is to be done as early as possible to save the life. This is the first successful surgery of the kind in the Kurnool district. Though 3 surgeries of the same kind were previously done, the patients couldn't survive. The whole procedure would normally cost around Rs 8-10 lakh. But, in this case, everything was covered under Aarogyasri scheme.

The patient was admitted for 8 days in the hospital. She came for a follow-up and everything is fine. She can go on with her normal routine but should follow the medication from time to time.

The whole procedure was done by Dr K Sandeep Reddy, Consultant Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeon. Dr Ali Soudagar, cardiologist and anaesthetist Dr Vijaya Sai assisted.