Friday, April 11, 2008 (Bangalore): For those who need a heart transplant – here`s some hope. Bangalore’s Narayana Hrudayalaya has carried out Asia’s first artificial heart transplant on a 54-year-old man, giving him a new lease of life.
Five years ago, 54-year old Venkatakrishnaiah was a field engineer with the Karnataka Electricity Board until one day he could not even walk the few steps leading to his ground floor office.
That’s when he knew there was something wrong. Several trips to the hospital confirmed that he had severe heart failure. Even after a bypass, life was nowhere near normal.
”My family has undergone so much trouble, sometimes even getting angry at my condition. Things like this can’t be expressed,” said Venkatakrishnaiah, Patient.
That is when doctors at Narayana Hrudayalaya decided to implant the left ventricular assist device to help pump blood into Venkatakrishnaiah’s heart in the first of its kind operation in any hospital in Asia.
”We do 30 heart surgeries every day. So there was no fear. But we chose him because he fit the criteria of someone who we wanted to try it on,” said Dr Devi Shetty, Narayana Hrudayalaya.
Venkatakrishnaiah now has a device, which helps pump blood to his heart and a battery, and control pack, which he has to carry around. Just two weeks after the surgery, he can now walk without assistance and even climb 24 steps.
”I am able to now do this all on my own, something I had never expected to achieve,” added Venkatakrishnaiah.
With over 20 million people in India living with heart failure, this surgery has perhaps come at the right time. Doctors and experts in this field said it could be the next huge boost for medical tourism in the country.
Source: ndtv.com
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