Jaipur docs claim rare feat, replace heart valve without surgery

Our Correspondent

Jaipur, April 24

In a rare medical procedure performed for the first time in Rajasthan, doctors claimed to have replaced a heart valve in a 70-year-old woman patient without resorting to “open heart surgery”, at a private hospital here.  

A team of doctors led by Dr Ravindra Singh Rao and Dr Samin Sharma of Eternal Heart Care Hospital performed the revolutionary procedure on a patient suffering from severe Aortic Stenosis, the abnormal narrowing of a passage in the arota.

It was performed through an artery in the leg and the technique is called as “transcatheter aortic valve implantation” (TAVI), Dr Rao and Dr Sharma told reporters today.

After the procedure, the patient was awake and was able to walk in the evening, they claimed.

Dr Rao, who has done specialisation in interventional cardiology and structural heart disease from the US, said TAVI is a non-surgical procedure that can be performed in the cath lab like angioplasty, without opening the chest of the patient.

“For this patient, we went from her left leg artery and crossed the tight valve with a wire. Then the valve was advanced over the wire and positioned at the right place under fluoroscopy and echo guidance. The procedure was performed without a single stitch and involved minimal morbidity.”

A valve costs around Rs 13 lakh, is made up of biological tissues and imported from either the Netherlands or US, Dr Rao said.

This procedure is only done with the prior approval of the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) and only few major hospitals in the country have the sanction for valve replacement.

In a statement, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje also congratulated the team of doctors for performing first such procedure in Rajasthan. She said it would give a boost to medical tourism.