Three surgeons from Faith Hospital perform the surgery for over 5 hours
Morung Express News
Dimapur | November 11
In what is touted as the first of its kind in the State, a 24-year man successfully underwent a peripheral vascular bypass surgery at the Faith Hospital Dimapur on Friday evening.
The team of doctors, Dr. Saravanan Balachandran MCH (Vascular Surgery), a super specialist surgeon from Chennai along with two surgeons of Faith Hospital Dimapur – Dr Aravind and Dr. Wotsa, performed the surgery for over 5 hours.
The hospital claimed that it was the first surgery of its kind performed in Nagaland. While the surgery was carried out on November 10 from 8 PM to 1:15 AM, the surgeons had exuded a high degree of confidence by calling for a press conference even before the surgery through the hospital authority. The hospital had intimated the media houses on Friday evening about the press meet to be held on November 11.
During the press conference, the surgeons informed that the patient was suffering from Beurger's disease (Thromboangitis obliterans), a rare disease of the arteries and veins in the arms and legs “where blood vessels become inflamed, swell and can become blocked with blood clots.”
It mainly affects smokers but occasionally occurs in non-smokers. When the patient first visited the hospital, he was unable to even sleep due to the pain, a condition which the doctors described as rest pain (pain in the legs even when the patient is at rest).
No kind of pain killers would relieve the pain, the surgeons said. The patient also had non-healing ulcers in his left leg.
The complaints started four years back when he would have pain while walking for a distance and his movements were gradually reduced, they said.
This is a common symptom for vascular diseases, the surgeons said. As a result, the patient gave up schooling.
The disease was diagnosed using a Computed Tomography Angiogram, a test used to visualise arterial and venous vessels throughout the body.
The test revealed blockage of artery in the thigh and a ‘femoro-popliteal’ bypass surgery was planned, they added.
Explaining the surgery process, Dr. Kitaka, Executive Director, Faith Hospital said that a vein (called the great saphenous vein) was taken from the patient’s leg and it replaced the blocked segment of artery (about 5 cm length) restoring blood flow to the lower legs.
Without surgery, the patient’s left would have been amputated, he informed. He also informed that Beurger's disease accounted for upto 40%-50% of peripheral vascular disease among the Indian population and the disease is usually seen in young adults aged less than 50 years.
However, with persons aged above 50, the disease attacks the entire body. Without proper treatment the patient ends up with amputation, Dr. Kitaka added.
Peripheral vascular disease is a disease of blood vessels of the upper and lower limbs which reduces blood flow causing pain, non-healing ulcers and ultimately progressing to gangrene - death of body tissue due to either a lack of blood flow or a serious bacterial infection. The major causes of the vascular disease are smoking and chewing tobacco.
The doctors also advised harvesting veins from the patient’s body for the surgery since employing graft material had higher failure rates though it takes lesser time for the procedure and problem also arises after five years. The cost of the surgery was Rs 1 lakh as against Rs 2 lakh normally charged in Chennai.
The difference in cost, according to Dr. Kitaka was due to lesser ‘surgeons’ and hospital fees at the Faith Hospital.
The hospital authority further informed that the patient from Mon recuperating well at the hospital.
