Rare cardiac procedure gives fresh lease of life

In a rare feat, a 53-year-old patient underwent the Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR) procedure at Continental Hospital. The announcement about the successful procedure came from Dr Bharat V Purohit, Chief of Cath Lab & Interventional Cardiology on Friday.

“TAVR is a non surgical procedure that replaces the damaged aortic valve of heart by implanting an artificial valve, without open heart surgery and through groin only. This innovative and extremely rare technique was successfully carried out by a team of cardiologists, who turned the odds in favor of a 53-year-old male patient,” said Dr Purohit.

The patient, Ramanjaneyulu, having ‘Critical Aortic Valve Disease’ and associated history of paralysis, multiple fits and poor heart muscle function was refused surgery at multiple hospitals, owing to the high risk involved. The team comprising of Dr Purohit and Dr Avinash Dal, Chief of CTVS discussed the case and decided to take up the challenge.

The procedure was performed by the team on August 19 along with Dr Meeraji Rao, Dr Abhisekh Mohanty, Dr Biswajeet Mohaptra, Dr Mahesh BN and Dr Anil K Reddy. “The patient recovered well and was discharged from the hospital on August 24,” said Dr Purohit.

Speaking about this rare case, he said, “Successful completion of the TAVR procedure gives a new ray of hope to many such high risk patients with critical aortic valve disease who are suffering and unable to undergo traditional open heart surgery due to advanced age or other associated diseases making them high risk.”