A 79-year-old man was discharged a day after undergoing a heart valve replacement procedure.
The patient, suffering from aortic stenosis, underwent the less invasive transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedure done under local anaesthesia.
Interventional cardiologist G. Sengottuvelu of Apollo Hospitals who treated him said, conventionally the surgery was an open heart procedure requiring longer hospital stay and convalescence period.
The introduction of lesser invasive procedures such as transcatheter that are used to insert the stent through the artery in the groin, cut short hospitalisation. But patients had to be administered general anaesthesia.
A few months ago Dr. Sengottuvelu began administering local anaesthesia. Once the stent is in place, the catheter is removed and the arteries are sutured using absorbable sutures. The patient can be discharged the next day if in good health.
Aortic stenosis, caused due to wear and tear of the valve or calcification of the valve, is the disease of the aged and the symptoms, such as breathlessness and tiredness, are noticed only when severe. “We have simplified the (stenting) procedure and it requires a fewer assistants. Patients are back home a day later,” Dr. Sengottuvelu said.
The procedure could last around two hours and the stent costs ₹18 lakh. The specialist said that in his hospital so far five persons had undergone the procedure and he was publishing his work in the Indian Heart Journal.
