Chennai: Surgery saves man with rare condition

CHENNAI: A 65-year-old man admitted to SIMS Hospital, Vadapalani, with complaints of severe chest pain was diagnosed with a life-threatening condition — including a tear in the inner lining of the aorta, leaking aortic valve and a tear in lower end of the descending part of the aorta.

While traditionally doctors will operate on such a patient in two stages, doctors at SIMS Hospital decided to do a complex surgery that would treat all the three conditions. “The diagnosis itself was challenging, the surgery was a bigger challenge. But we had to do it on an emergency basis,” said senior cardiac surgeon Dr V V Bashi.

When the surgery is done at different stages, the patient and his/ her family live in a state of fear and anxiety due to the inherent risk of mortality. “The single-stage correction of all the problems will give the patient confidence to live a longer and happy life,” he said.

In this case, surgeons at SIMS Hospital replaced the entire diseased aorta and repaired the valve in a single stage surgery. It was uneventful and on Thursday, doctors said that the patient was doing well. “I did not realize that I had such a critical ailment. I am now happy that the surgery has cured me,” said Coimbatore-based Barathiraja.