Chennai :

When 73-year-old Padmanabhan approached a city hospital with severe breathing difficulties, poor kidney function and high blood pressure, doctors found the answer to his problem in his heart.

It wasn’t a scalpel that mended his organ, but a thin tube inserted through the groin. Padmanabhan, a retiree, was diagnosed with severe narrowing of his aortic valve, which maintains one-way flow of the blood from the heart to other parts of the body.

While doing an open heart surgery was the only recourse for patients like him, doctors ruled out making the cut, citing his advanced age. “Besides, he was suffering from other conditions like severe asthma, high lung pressure and anemia. The odds were stacked against him,” said Dr G Sengottuvelu, interventional cardiologist at Apollo Hospitals.

As doctors went through medical literature and discussed ways to replace his valve without wielding a scalpel, time became a luxury. Padmanabhan’s heart was fast failing. “I couldn’t walk or lie on my back. I felt this constriction in my chest and couldn’t breathe. I prepared myself for any eventuality,” said Padmanabhan, who was presented before the media on Tuesday.

Doctors at the hospital decided to undertake a procedure that was fast gaining popularity in other countries but is still in the nascent stage in India — transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). This minimally invasive procedure replaces the narrowed aortic valve with a valve made of bovine pericardium (membrane enclosing the heart), supported with a metal stent. The new valve is mounted on a catheter (a thin tube) and guided into the heart through a small hole in the leg.

Padmanabhan, who had been in and out of the hospital for more than a year, was discharged in four days. “For years I’ve been climbing the same flight of stairs at home and not once did I think of counting them. My battle with ailments made me do it as they crippled me. I aimed to climb the 21 stairs some day. I can finally do it now,” he said.

Padmanabhan will be remembered by the team of doctors who treated him for being the first to undergo TAVR at the hospital. “We need to undertake more such procedures as the risks are minimal compared to open heart surgery and the recovery is much faster,” said Dr Sengottuvelu.

However, although the procedure shows promises, the cost remains a hurdle. A single valve costs Rs 13 lakh. “The cost will come down probably if these valves are indigenously made. It will translate into lesser people going under the knife,” he said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Chennai / Ekatha Ann / TNN / February 09th, 2016