Complex heart surgery performed
In what is claimed to be a complex and rare procedure, surgeons at the Kovai Medical Center and Hospital created what is normally a congenital heart disease – ventricular septal defect (a hole in the lower chamber of the heart) – to provide a cure to a 22-year-old girl.M. Malarkodi of Tiruchengode suffered from severe chest pain, palpitation and giddiness for a year. She was found to suffer from a severe narrowing of the portion below the aortic valve of the left ventricle, said consultant cardio-thoracic surgeon M. Jothi, who led a three-member team that performed the surgery. Cardio-thoracic surgeon B. Jayaraman and Senior Cardiac Anaesthetist M. Palaniappan were the other members. Called Konno-Rastan Aorto Ventriculoplasty, the procedure involved the opening of the tubular narrowing by creating the hole in the ventricle. The hole was closed and the aortic valve was also replaced with a mechanical valve. Chairman of the hospital Nalla G. Palanisamy said in a press release that very few hospitals in the country performed this surgery. The patient was doing well after the surgery, rid of all the problems caused by the disease, it said.
