Hyderabad: For the first time ever in Telugu states, a team of doctors at Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) in Hyderabad performed a complex heart procedure on a teenager at a cost of Rs 14 lakhs.
The patient, who is a 19-year-old girl was suffering from breathlessness due to a hole in her heart and leakage of blood.
The cost of the surgery was borne by Singareni Collieries, where the girl’s father is employed as an SDL (Side Discharge Loader) operator, and would not have been able to afford the expenses of the surgery.
Hyderabad: KIMS doctors perform 12-hour-long surgery on infant with birth defect
Jahnavi, from Bhupalpally, was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot, a rare condition caused by a combination of four heart complications since birth.
She had undergone open heart surgery at the age of three and was doing well until the age of 15.
For the last three years, Jahnavi had been suffering from breathlessness and was found to have pulmonary regurgitation, a leakage of blood from the pulmonary artery into the right ventricle.
The team of doctors, led by Dr Sai Satish, considered the risks involved in another open-heart surgery and instead planned a catheter-directed treatment.
An artificial pulmonary valve was deployed through a lower limb vein in Jahnavi’s thighs, and an atrial septal defect was closed with an Amplatzer device in a single sitting.
In addition to this, the doctors also successfully treated the hole in Jahnavi’s heart.
The doctors wrote a letter to Singareni Collieries requesting help for the family and conducted the surgery on January 25.
Jahnavi is reportedly said to have recovered well and will soon be discharged from the hospital.
