A 30 years old Punjabi farmer got a new life from CMC

Bypass on a beating heart the risk of the repair is reduced:Dr.Bedi

A happy Mr Baljinder and family with Dr Harinder Singh Bedi 

Ludhiana, 17th March, 2012 (Shalu Arora and Rector Kathuria) Mr Baljinder Singh – a 30 year old farmer of Nakodar – was in a difficult situation. This young man had suffered 2 massive heart attacks 4 and 2 years back due to which his heart pumping was very weak and he was unable to breathe. He was investigated at heart hospitals in Chandigarh where it was diagnosed that besides blockage of his heart arteries he also had a severe leakage of his main heart valve (the mitral valve). He was in imminent danger of another heart attack but because of his double pathology (blockage + valve leakage) he was refused surgery. He then came to Dr Harinder Singh Bedi – Head of Cardio Vascular & Thoracic Surgery at the Christian Medical College & Hospital in Ludhiana. Dr Bedi realized that the valve leakage was not due to an intrinsic defect or tear of the valve but was due to the heart size becoming big (dilating) leading to failure of the valve to close properly. Contrary to popular Punjabi belief – Dr Bedi said – a ‘large’ heart is not really a healthy heart. The leakage led to a vicious cycle wherein the leak caused a further enlargement which in turn leads to more leakage. Till now the treatment was a complicated valve repair which was not always successful or a valve replacement which had its own problems.  A new repair technique is now being used all over the world – it is called a mitral valve repair using a McCartney-Carpentier-Adams Edwards IMR ring. This has been designed by Edwards company of USA in collaboration with world leaders in valve repair techniques – Dr McCartney and Dr  Adams from USA and the legendary Dr Carpentier from Paris . This technique was taught to Dr Bedi by the inventor Dr McCartney himself. Dr Bedi added his own modification by doing the bypass first on a beating heart - Dr Bedi is credited with having done the world’s first series of beating heart surgery and has a Limca World Record for the same. Dr Bedi explained that by doing the bypass on a beating heart the risk of the repair is reduced. The heart was then put on an imported heart lung machine for a very short time and stopped with ice. The heart chambers were opened and the valve repaired successfully with this new ring. The operation was successful and the valve leakage immediately stopped.

Baljinder is now doing well. The other members of the Heart team are Dr A Joseph, Dr S Garg, Dr Melchi, Dr Paul, Dr Deepak, Dr Vaishu, Dr Amruta, Dr Sarah, and Mr Jairus, and Mr William. Dr Bedi explained that if the valve had been changed Baljinder would have required life long close supervision and expensive medications. Dr McCartney has congratulated Dr Bedi and CMC on the excellent result and complimented him on his skills.

Dr Abraham G Thomas – Director of CMC & H – said that the CMC was committed to bringing International level expertise and equipment to the people of the region.