The Hindu : Heart functioning stopped, cyst removed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 14, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Heart functioning stopped, cyst removed

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, JAN. 13. A team of doctors in the Government General Hospital, here, recently performed an open heart surgery to remove a cyst from a patient suffering from Hydatid disease.

Kavitha, hailing from Kallakurichi in Villupuram district, was admitted to the hospital for breathlessness and chest pain and referred to cardiologist S. Elangovan. Diagnosis revealed that she was suffering from the Hydatid disease, involving her left ventricle. The disease is caused by the dog tapeworm that enters the human body through the faeco-oral route. In Kavitha, the parasite, lodged itself in the heart, was growing and compromising the functioning of the organ.

The team comprising the cardiac surgeon, K. Harshavardhan, the head of the department of cardiology, T. Subramaniam, and the head of cardio thoracic surgery, Rajan Santhosam, performed the four-hour-long operation, during which the heart was stopped for about 70 minutes and blood circulation maintained by a heart lung machine. The surgeons removed the cyst measuring 5 cm and subsequently heart function was restored to normalcy.

``This is the first time in 50 years that a rare cardiac disease of this nature was treated by surgery successfully in Tamil Nadu,'' Dr. Harshavardhan claimed. Hydatid disease involving the heart was only minimal, compared to the damage caused to the other organs. However, to prevent the disease, food should be cleaned and well cooked, he said.

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