South India's First Laser Assisted Primary Angioplasty Saves Patient with Cardiac Shock at Kauvery Hospital, Chennai

The Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Cardiology at Kauvery Hospital, Chennai, a prestigious unit of one of the leading healthcare chains in Tamil Nadu, successfully performed South India's first Laser Assisted Primary Angioplasty on a 52-year-old man from Kolkata.

The patient was admitted to hospital thirteen hours after the onset of chest pain, and had severe blockage in his coronary arteries (blood vessels of heart).

The “golden hour” for a heart attack is generally one hour, and this “window of opportunity” may extend up to 6 hours, but chances of success and survival are highest when experienced cardiologists intervene with appropriate technology.

Explaining about the need of urgency for this extremely critical patient, Dr. R Anantharaman, Senior Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, Kauvery Hospital said, “A heart attack ensues from the build-up of a clot (thrombus) at the site of a ruptured plaque which is made up of cholesterol deposits on the walls of the blood vessels (coronary arteries) that carry oxygen to the muscles of the heart. As times passes more clots will accumulate, cutting off the blood flow, and irreversibly damaging the heart muscles (acute myocardial infarction). If there is no medical intervention, it could be fatal.

The patient presented to our hospital with chest pain for nearly 13 hours. On investigation we found large amount of clots in the coronary arteries. The heart was also severely reduced in function. He was immediately given medicines to help the blood flow in the coronary artery to resume, which facilitated aspiration of thrombus during the primary angioplasty. Inspite of these medicines blood flow was not restored.”

The patient had two cardiac arrests, went into cardiogenic shock and inorder to urgently restore the blood flow to the heart, laser angioplasty was performed. "Generally, medicines are given to restore the blood flow and then an angioplasty would be done, but in this case, we had to opt for immediate laser assisted angioplasty to clear (ablate) the thrombus even faster, followed by implantation of stents to keep the artery open,” added Dr. Ananthraman. He was successfully weaned off support (IABP) and discharged home after 4 days.

“To ensure that such patients receive and benefit from the best available technology in the world, the department of Cardiology at our hospital is equipped with Coronary EXCIMER laser and all associated equipment and infrastructure," he added.

The symptoms of a heart attack include tightness, pain, or a squeezing or aching sensation in chest or arms that may spread to your neck, jaw or back. Nausea, indigestion, heartburn, abdominal pain, shortness of breath, cold sweat, fatigue, sudden dizziness are other symptoms which may be associated with a heart attack. However not all heart attacks are same and the symptoms vary from person to person.

"In India majority of heart attack affect <50-year-old (while in the west it is >65 years) and among them more than 40% die without timely medical help. It is very important to call for help or an ambulance when someone develops any of these symptoms. More the delay, lesser the chances of survival. Our Laser Angioplasty Centre has been built to treat patients with complex heart conditions, which can otherwise be not treated. I congratulate Dr. R Anantharaman, Dr. A B Gopalamurugan and team for successfully treating the patient who was at high risk of complications and death, especially during COVID pandemic," says Dr. Aravindan Selvaraj, Co-founder and Executive Director Kauvery Hospital Chennai.

For more details, please visit: Kauvery Hospital.