Man with cracks in main artery treated successfully in Delhi hospital

NEW DELHI: Doctors at Fortis Hospital, Faridabad, successfully treated a 63-year-old man, who had developed ‘Aortic Dissection’ — a crack in his main artery, due to irregular medication of high blood pressure.
If the anomaly was not diagnosed on time, it could have been fatal, said the doctors, adding that after treatment — which included bypass surgery of neck vessels supplying blood to the brain and a covered stent implantation for sealing the crack — the patient is doing well.
Upon admission, the patient was drowsy and breathless, his abdomen was swollen and he was unable to pass stools for the past two-three days.
He also had intestinal obstruction due to decreased blood flow to the intestines.
Further examinations revealed that the crack in the main artery (aorta) was extending to the kidneys and intestines and was too close to the main arteries of the brain.
Considering all these factors, an extensive CT scan was done to decide the line of treatment.
Giving details of the case, Dr (Prof.) Sanjay Kumar, said, “Since the crack in the Aorta (main artery) was beginning to move closer to the brain supplying vessels, the team of doctors decided to conduct a surgical bypass first, post which a stent was implanted in the patient. Just putting a covered stent could have closed the brain-supplying artery leading to a major stroke.”
Since the crack involved the arteries of the intestine and kidney, closing the starting point of the crack in the aorta also led to the healing of cracks connected with the intestinal and kidney arteries.
After the procedure, the patient improved significantly, along with improvement in the intestinal obstruction.
He added that had the patient been not treated on time, it could have led to stroke, kidney failure, intestinal obstruction or even death.
“If untreated, the condition has 100% mortality and very few people reach the hospital alive and of those who make it to the hospital alive, the diagnosis is not established. Hence, one should not ignore sudden severe upper backache with high BP. In case of any such symptoms one should go to a tertiary healthcare centre at the earliest,” he advised.