Doctors from KLE Society’s Dr. Prabhakar Kore Hospital conduced a rare, life-saving open heart surgery on an 87 year old.
A team of doctors headed by cardiothoracic surgeon Richard Saldanha successfully carried out a Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (open heart surgery) on an 87-year-old patient recently.
The surgery was carried out on Rajashekhar Kalburgi. The team operated on him with three grafts. The patient recovered and was discharged within a week. “Operating on an octogenarian is a challenging task as the muscles, arteries, and bones all have become weak. It was a high-risk surgery in view of his old age and the vulnerable cardiac condition,’‘ the doctors said.
“Till now, we have carried out over 27, 270 heart surgeries performed at the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery. Of them, Mr. Kalburgi is the oldest patient to have undergone heart surgery. The team had surgeons, anesthesiologists, perfusionists, nurses, and physiotherapists. Their successful teamwork has kindled hope among the aged patients. This surgery also proved that age is no bar for an open heart surgery,” Dr. Saldanha said in a release. This is the oldest ever patient operated on by me in my four-decade long career,” he said.
The other members of the team were Anand Wagharali, Mohan Gan and Sharangouda Patil.
The patient is a retired teacher, a resident of Bhagya Nagar in Belagavi. He was advised the procedure at the hospital after an angiography report. He went to see doctors after he was facing difficulty walking and had chest pain, discomfort, and breathlessness. The angiography report showed that the octogenarian’s major arteries were totally blocked.
Following support from anaesthesia experts, the surgery was carried out successfully.
The blocked arteries were freed by bypass. On the third day of the operation, the patient was out of bed and was able to walk. Prabhakar Kore, Chairman KLES and colonel Dr Dayananda, Medical Director of the hospital have congratulated the team.
