Using a mechanical heart pump called Impella, surgeons at Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre here have successfully performed angioplasty on a 77-year-old woman about a week ago.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Dr. Sivakumar said their hospital was the first to use the technique in southern Tamil Nadu, while it had been performed in Chennai and Vellore. The patient had fully recovered and was fit to resume her normal activities, he said.
Explaining the salient features of the heart pump, he said that in the procedure known as protected percutaneous coronary intervention, the Impella was removed after the surgery was performed. Both the insertion and removal of the heart pump was done through the groin artery.
When angioplasty was performed on a patient whose heart was too weak owing to factors like over calcification and severe blockage of arteries, even a minimally-invasive heart surgery such as angioplasty could overwhelm the heart and make it stop, causing death. But Impella would bring down the mortality rate during angioplasty from over 25% to less than 5% by helping the heart rest and recover during the surgery by taking over its function temporarily. The pump could perform the heart’s function up to a week post-surgery.
MMHRC chairman R Gurushankar said Impella-assisted surgery was popular in the USA. In India, the permission was accorded about two years ago. It would be of immense help to patients, especially those with weak or failing heart, he said.
