MADURAI
Doctors at Government Rajaji Hospital here operated on two high-risk patients, both above 60 years of age, with ruptured but contained aortic aneurysm earlier this month.
GRH Dean J. Sangumani said that the patients were on ventilator support. Such incident could be caused due to uncontrolled hypertension, stomach pain, back pain and pain or itch in bones.
“Three out of four patients who come with similar complaints and symptoms often die. Both these patients had earlier suffered one episode. In order to complete the surgery before the second episode, we hurriedly performed the surgery,” he said.
In the case of the patient who was operated upon on November 9, the rupture was close to the renal artery connecting to the kidney, said Cardiovascular surgeon Saravanan Robinson. He said the surgery took six hours and blood supply had to be stopped briefly for around half an hour to perform the surgery. The risk of free rupture was present throughout, making it a life-threatening scenario, he added.
He said some factors which could cause aortic aneurysms were lipid deposit, smoking and drinking.
Medical Superintendent (in-charge) B. Hemanth Kumar said that one of these surgeries demanded six units of blood whereas the second surgery demanded four. “Since these complex surgeries require a lot of blood, it would be great if more people are encouraged to donate blood regularly,” he said.
