Heart Stopped for 1.5 Hours… Lifesaving Surgery!

A 31-year-old man from the city was diagnosed with extremely rare and severe heart problems. The heart valves had developed leakages, and the aorta was abnormally dilated. Due to the leakage, blood was flowing back into the heart instead of reaching the rest of the body. As a result, the patient suffered from leg swelling, breathlessness, and was unable to carry out his daily activities. In addition to this, he also had a congenital defect called VSD (a hole in the heart).

In a single surgery, doctors at Kamineni Hospitals, LB Nagar, successfully treated all these problems and saved his life. The team stopped the patient’s heart for one and a half hours and continued its function through a heart-lung machine while performing the surgery. Consultant Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeon, Dr. Rishith Bathini, explained the condition and the treatment performed.

“Due to the valve leakages, much of the blood was flowing back into the heart. Along with this, the aorta had dilated it was supposed to be 3 cm but had expanded to 6 cm. If left untreated, there was a high risk of rupture or dissection, which would have been fatal. Added to this, the patient had a large hole between the walls of the heart (VSD).

We decided to perform a single corrective surgery, the Bentall’s procedure. First, we stop the heart and replace its function with a machine. Only after completing the entire procedure does the heart start beating again. During this operation, we replaced the dilated aorta with an artificial valve, reconstructed the ascending aorta, repaired the root, corrected other heart defects, and replanted the blood vessels.

This was a highly complex surgery. Since the aorta was stretched to 6 cm, its walls had become very thin, making suturing extremely difficult and with high chances of bleeding. While re-implanting the blood vessels, there is always a risk of heart failure in such patients. Moreover, the VSD in this case was unusually large. Normally, such congenital holes should be operated on early. If neglected, they grow larger, mixing impure and pure blood, turning the body bluish. Generally, patients with such large VSDs do not survive this long. In this patient, the dilated aorta had partially covered the hole, which prolonged his survival.

Such problems occur rarely, only in 1 out of 10,000–15,000 people between 30–50 years of age. If not detected and treated on time, the valve may rupture, leading to sudden death. Before surgery, his heart function had dropped to 20–30%, but after surgery it improved to 90%. In many such cases, patients require large volumes of blood transfusion, but in this case not even a single unit was needed. The surgery was completed safely. The patient recovered quickly, was shifted from ICU to ward by the third day, and discharged on the fifth day. Chief Cardiac Anaesthetist Dr. Suresh Kumar, Anaesthetist Dr. Ravali, Perfusionists Dr. Pavan and Dr. Durga assisted in this major surgery,” explained Dr. Rishith Bathini.

On the occasion of World Heart Day, September 29, Kamineni Hospitals will be organizing a Heart Check-up Camp. During this camp, there will be a 30% discount on doctor consultations and 20% discount on investigations. This facility will be available from September 29 to October 11, he added.