A complex surgery was performed at Government Stanley Medical College Hospital recently, to treat a 37-year-old mother of two with cardiac failure.
According to a press release from the hospital, S. Vijayalakshmi, from Thoraipakkam, was diagnosed with pulmonary stenosis, which is a reduction in the valve area of the pulmonary artery, which carries blood from the heart to the lungs.
She was first diagnosed in 1999 when she was giving birth, and subsequently admitted four times and treated for breathing difficulties and heart failure at various hospitals. On August 7, the hospital’s department of cardiology, led by K. Kannan, performed a balloon dilation of the pulmonary valve, expanding the valve area, and thereby allowing increased blood flow into the artery.
During the surgery, the release said, the patient had irregular heartbeat twice and, at one point, her blood pressure dropped, and she had to be ventilated for 24 hours.
However, the dilation, completed in 45 minutes, was successful and the patient is now symptom-free, the release said. A male patient, too, underwent the same procedure that day and is now doing well.
Dean A.L. Meenakshi Sundaram said the surgery was performed under the Chief Minister’s comprehensive health insurance scheme and could have cost Rs. 3 lakh at a private hospital.