‘Hybrid’ surgery performed on 78-year-old man

Doctors of Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre successfully performed a high-risk ‘hybrid’ surgery involving blood arteries on a 78-year-old man who had developed thoracic aortic dissection, a life-threatening internal bleeding caused by a tear in the aorta.

The surgery, known as Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Repair (TEVAR), combines a vascular bypass surgery and placing of a stent graft to strengthen the weakened part of the aorta. R. Sivakumar, senior consultant, Interventional Cardiologist, and a team of cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons, and interventional radiologists performed this surgery.

Dr. Sivakumar said both the interventions were performed one after the other within a few hours. A tear in the wall of the aorta could cause life-threatening bleeding or sudden death. “As a result, the patient was suffering from headache and breathlessness on and off for more than three months. He had every chance of producing complications like stroke, heart valve dysfunction, intestinal ischemia and renal failure,” he said.

So, vascular bypass surgery, a surgical procedure to redirect blood flow from one area to another by reconnecting blood vessels, was performed for the patient. Immediately after the procedure, an endovascular aortic repair was performed for the patient by placing an aortic stent graft into the diseased aorta to seal the tear and stop the internal bleeding.

The patient regained consciousness on the same day and was recovering well, he added.