''Rare'' surgery performed on patient with organs on reverse sides in Chandigarh

Chandigarh, December 19 

The doctors here have performed a "rare" surgery on a 23-year-old man whose heart and other major organs were positioned on the reverse side. 

23-year-old Patiala resident Karamjit said that a few months back he was suffering with severe fever, cough and fatigue. His relative took him to Max Super Specialty Hospital (MSSH), Mohali, near here, where the doctors found that all his major organs were positioned on the reverse side while two of his major heart valves were also damaged.

After performing a number of tests, the doctors at the hospital decided to undertake the "high-risk" surgery to set right the damaged valves.

"The patient was suffering from a congenital anomaly called Dextrocardia with Situs Inversus Totalis (SIT) where organs and vessels were positioned in the opposite directions as a result of chromosomal abnormality," said Virender Sarwal, Director and Head of Department, Cardio Thoracic and Vascular Surgery, MSSH.

He explained that the patient's heart and spleen were on the right side and his liver was on his left, which should have been on the right side. His lungs were also inverted.

"Performing a heart surgery on these kinds of patients involves very high risk," he said adding that the complex surgery on Karamjit was recently performed by a team of MSSH surgeons. -PTI