Southern States - Karnataka   

A rare medical procedure

By Our Staff Correspondent

The aorta before (left) and after the skilful procedure.

Belgaum Oct. 15. For the first time in this part of the country, the Belgaum-based KLES Hospital and Medical Research Centre conducted a rare feat closing an abnormal communication between the aorta and a pulmonary artery known as "PDA closure", by adopting a novel procedure without surgery. According to a release, a four-year-old girl from Sangli in Maharashtra approached the hospital here with rare complaints of frequent episodes of fever, cough, cold and breathlessness associated with weight loss.

On investigation, the doctors found a defect called "Patent Ductus Arteriosus" (PDA), which is a rare condition and harmful to a baby as it carries large amount of oxygenated blood (Arterial) under high pressure to the low pressure impure blood going to the lungs.

It is nature's gift that the communication existing between Aorta of the heart and pulmonary arteries (when the baby is in the womb of mother) gets closed automatically after the birth of the baby.

But it remains open in a few cases, and hence the defect called PDA. If uncorrected in time, it damages the vessel of the lungs.

The girl who is recovering after the medical procedure.

For such patients, till recently the PDA was corrected (closed) by conducting major surgery by opening the chest.

Thanks to advanced medical technology, a new method has been devised to avoid such major surgery. Under the new procedure, a metal coil with three to five loops is put across the communication through tube.

Once the stiff wire is taken out of the straightened coil, the coil remains across the communication and held in place with loops on either side.

Within 10 minutes of deployment, a blood clot is formed around the coil placed in this communication and the PDA gets closed.

The whole procedure is done under mild anaesthesia. The coil is introduced through the arteries in the groin (thigh), which requires 2 mm hole and is closed immediately after the completion of the procedure.

A team of doctors of the MRC, which included Chief Cardiologist, Prabhu C.Halkati, Senior Cardiologist, Suresh Patted, Honorary Cardiologist, D.R.Kulkarni, and catheter laboratory experts, performed the advanced and skilful procedure.

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