A Journey of hope from downtown Srinagar
Raghubansh Sinha
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, February 14
It was a long and arduous journey for a nine-year-old and his anxious parents from downtown Srinagar to the Capital of the country. But looking back now, it was worth the effort. For it was a matter of life and death, literally speaking, for the nine year oldAdnan Manzoor, who had to be put on cardiac emergency for severe breathlessness and chest pain in his home earlier this month.
Even as he was diagnosed to be suffering from Aortic Stenosis, a condition in which the main valve at the exit of the heart gets severelv shrunken and disallows oxygenated blood to be carried to the whole body, a team of doctors under Dr Anil Bhan prepared to operate upon him at the Max Devika Devi Heart and vascular Institute, Saket. Incidentallv, the Cardiac Surgerv Department at MHVI was operationalised only on December 24, 2004
For Dr Bhan, the young patient provided a challenge of its own. While the treatment of Aortic Stenosis is Aortic valve replacement, the doctor wanted it to be a lifelong lasting treatment considering the age of the patient. This entailed taking the difficult option of replacing the diseased valve with the patient’s own pulmonary valve, that not only gives a better performance but grows with the child over the years.
Explaining the four hours operation to The Tribune, Dr Bhan said: “The diseased Aortic valve was excised, the coronary artery (vessels which supply blood to the heart) buttons and pulmonary valve was harvested. The pulmonary valve was sewn into Aortic position, coronary buttons were restructured and a new pulmonary valve made of bovine pericardium sewn into pulmonary position".
“Ross operation is a breakthrough as thousands of patients, both children and adult, can benefit from it. It will usher in a new era in the field of valve surgery by providing the patient his own normal valve in place of a diseased Aortic valve, thereby avoiding the complications of a metallic valve,” said Dr Bhan. The Ross operation has ensured that “no medication” is neoessarv in the post-operative stage. If all goes well, Adnan needs to travel to the national Capital for a check up only after two vears.
Dr Bhan is doubly satisfied because the Ross operation at MHVI is the first of its kind to be performed successfullv in a private hospital in north India. “Even as our faith in the doctor has been rewarded, we hope similar hospitals would be established nearer home so that we don’t have to make such a long trip in such an emergencv,” said Adnan’s father, Mr Manzoor Ahmed, relieved that he would be back home soon.
The intricate operation has now given a new lease oflife to Adnan, the second of three children of Mr Manzoor Ahmed, a bakerv owner from downtown Srinagar, J & K, who now looks forward to getting on with his normal routine back home in the valley.