AIIMS scores a surgical first

Anyone who meets 27-year-old Rashmi Katiyar can’t believe that she underwent a complex cardiac surgery only a day ago. She can’t wait to go back to her home in Kanpur, where her seven-year-old son is eagerly waiting for her. She will not have to wait for long, reports Mallica Joshi.

Anyone who meets 27-year-old Rashmi Katiyar can’t believe that she underwent a complex cardiac surgery only a day ago. She can’t wait to go back to her home in Kanpur, where her seven-year-old son is eagerly waiting for her. She will not have to wait for long.

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Rashmi, who was suffering from a defective aorta — blood used to collect between the layers of her aorta — underwent a new form of aortic repair surgery that ensures speedy recovery, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).

It was the first time that the surgery, a mixture of three procedures — Bentall’s procedure, Arc replacement and Elephant Trunk procedure — was conducted in India. France is the only other country where doctors carry out the procedure.

Rashmi started experiencing severe back pain two years ago. She consulted doctors in Lucknow, who diagnosed the problem and referred her to AIIMS earlier this month.

“For conventional aortic repair surgery, doctors have to stop flow of blood to vital organs like heart, lungs and brain and lower the temperature of a patient’s body to 18 degrees Celsius, in order to conduct aortic repair surgery. With the help of the new procedure,

circulation is not suspended and there is no need to lower the patient’s body temperature,” said Dr S K Chaudhary, cardiac surgeon, AIIMS, who operated on Rashmi.

The surgery, costing Rs 2 lakh, was performed by a team of 20 doctors, led by Dr Chaudhary. The new procedure lowers the risk of a patient suffering from paralysis post surgery and also reduces the time spent in hospital post-surgery.

“The patient was operated upon on Tuesday and shifted from the ICU within a few hours of the surgery. She will be discharged by Saturday. Her speedy recovery has surprised everyone,” said Dr Chaudhary.

A patient undergoing conventional aortic repair surgery spends between 36 and 48 hours under anaesthesia and between 24 and 48 hours on the ventilator, post-surgery.

Rashmi lost only 140 millilitres blood during surgery. She did not require any ventilator support and was on her feet just hours after the surgery.