Pioneering cardiac procedure

In a first-of-its-kind procedure in India, a 75 -year-old man, Yerra Veeraiah underwent percutaneous Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) at Apollo Hospitals in Jubilee Hills.

The surgery was performed by Dr PC Rath and his team including Dr Manoj Agarwal, Dr B Dikshit and Dr Sundar on Veeraiah, who was suffering with critical calcific Aortic Stenosis.

Announcing the success of the surgery, President of Apollo Group, Dr Hari Prasad, explained, “Narrowing of the heart’s aortic valve is called Aortic stenosis.

Such blockage leads to gradual petering of blood flow and consequently an increased effort from the heart is required to pump blood. This condition can lead to heart failure. In normal circumstances an open heart surgery is performed.

In this case the patient had advanced age and renal failure. Therefore, we opted for the minimally invasive TAVI was preferred.”

“TAVI for this patient was performed in the cathlab from the groin region like in angioplasty. After the patient was administered short general anesthesia ,

the valve was put to the heart through the femoral artery and was implanted accurately under the guidance of fluoroscopy and trans Esophaegeal ECHO. The duration of the procedure was approximately one and half hours.

After this procedure the patient was extubated he was conscious and was shifted to ICU. He was monitored in the ICU for two days, three more days in the ward and is being discharged by tomorrow,” said Dr PC Rath.

The potential benefits of a TAVI procedure include a more normal aortic valve performance and improved overall heart function.