CMC hospital performs rare non-interventional procedure for pulmonary valve implant

The approach involved implantation of a new heart valve through the patient’s jugular vein in the neck. The patient was discharged from the hospital in 72 hours,” doctors said.

Hospital officials said that the patient had undergone treatment for “Blue Baby Syndrome” (officially termed Tetralogy of Fallot) in the same hospital when she was nine years old. In this condition, the oxygenated and non-oxygenated blood mix, which is not good enough to the lungs.

Hospital authorities said the patient was admitted to the hospital complaining of progressive tiredness and being unable to do her regular household chores. When examined, it was found her heart’s pulmonary valve was defective allowing backflow of blood into her heart resulting in the pulmonary artery becoming distended.

Undertaking open heart surgery was ruled out as she had already undergone this procedure and it would also require prolonged hospitalisation. Officials said that though interventional cardiology allowed non-surgical implantation of new valves, the procedure was still in the early stages in India and so CMC doctors decided to use a non-surgical valve implantation programme, which the hospital had perfected over the last four years.

“A 32 mm heart value made of artificial biological tissue similar to that found in the human heart was transported from Vapi, Gujarat to Vellore wHere cardiologists, including John Jose, Paul V George and Harsha Teja, aided by cardiac anaesthetists Balaji, Kirubakaran and Raja Sahajanandan implanted the valve in the pulmonary position through the patient’s jugular vein,” doctors said. CMC is the only hospital in India to conduct a cardiac valve and structural heart disease interventions clinic, doctors added.