Chennai: A team of cardiothoracic surgeons at the Rajiv Gandhi government general hospital (RGGGH) performed bypass surgery on a 50-year-old male patient who had a cardiac arrest right on the operation table. When they could not revive him after trying for an hour, they operated on him. Dean of the hospital, Dr R. Vimala, said a cardiac arrest on the operation table was rare; the practice was usually to revive the patient.
“It takes at least two weeks to refer the patient for surgery as the complications caused by the cardiac arrest have to be treated completely. There are chances of the patient’s condition worsening due to the original problem or of his incurring a second heart attack,” said Dr N. Nagarajan, cardiothoracic surgeon.
The risk in performing the surgery comes from complications induced by the heart having stopped for some time, he pointed out, but the patient showed improvement. The patient, M. Anbazhagan, a watchman from Tiruvallur, was originally diagnosed with left main coronary artery disease. His poor lifestyle had led to cholesterol blocking the blood vessel to the left artery.
Ranjitham, his wife, said he had been fainting frequently over the past month and suffering from breathlessness. He was referred to the government hospital by a local private hospital where such surgery would cost about Rs 2-Rs 3 lakh. At RGGGH, it was done free of cost under the Chief Minister’s comprehensive haalth insurance scheme.
