Date:15/08/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/08/15/stories/2006081516080100.htm

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First open heart surgery performed at Thanjavur Medical College Hospital

Special Correspondent

A date will be fixed every month for taking up such procedures, says Dean

Thanjavur: For the first time in the history of Thanjavur Medical College Hospital here, an open heart surgery was performed by a team of doctors on August 4, on a 17-year-old boy S. Velmurugan.

According to S. Balakrishnan, Dean, under whose supervision the surgery was performed, Velmurugan, a Plus Two student and a native of Thanjavur, had a hole in between two upper chambers of his heart (Artrial Septal Defect). The operation was done by opening the right upper chamber to close the hole. During the procedure, which lasted for two hours, the heart was completely stopped and the functions of the heart and lung were taken over by a heart lung machine. Velmurugan is hale and hearty and is recuperating now at the hospital. The Collector, C. Vijayaraj Kumar, presented a bouquet to him on Monday.

The surgery was done by N. Vasudevan, Professor of Cardio Thoracic Surgery, along with a surgical team, which included J. Sivakumar, T. Anantharamakrishnan, K. Mahadevan, K. Leo, Udhayanan and P. Balaraman, a post-graduate trainee.

The Dean said that a date would be fixed every month for taking up such procedures in future, depending on requirement of patients.