Apollo Hospitals performs rare procedure to implant Pulmonary Valve

Chennai: A 61-year-old woman with a rare medical condition called Tetralogy of Fallot was implanted with the world’s largest Pulmonary Valve (32mm) without surgery at the Apollo Hospitals in Chennai.

The patient had undergone a total surgical correction in 1981 for the congenital condition caused by a combination of four heart defects. The defects, which affect the structure of the heart, cause oxygen-poor blood to flow out of the heart and to the rest of the body, a hospital press release said.

‘She was doing fine, until the Pulmonary valve (the valve to the lung) developed leak gradually,’ the release said, adding the team of doctors at the hospital, headed by C S Muthukumaran, did the percutaneous valve implantation, using a 32 mm artificial valve.

The doctors’ team implanted the valve through the right femoral vein, (tube that takes blood to heart from the groin) of the patient and the whole procedure was successfully completed in 2 hours. The patient quickly recovered after the procedure and was discharged the very next day, the release added.