CHENNAI: In a pioneering effort at a government hospital in Tamil Nadu, a heart patient was administered epidural anaesthesia (spinally injected) for surgery to set right a congenital hole in the heart.

Thirty-year-old N. Kanthi was born with a hole between the upper chambers of her heart, known in medical terms as arterial septal defect.

In countries such as India where screening for heart problems is still unheard of, holes in the heart remain undiagnosed until the problems turn serious. Children born with the defect can remain asymptomatic and problems may show up only with age.

"A time comes when it is too late for surgery," says K. Harshavardhan, head of Cardio-thoracic Department, Government General Hospital.

Kanthi is married to a farm labourer and has two children and lives in Gudiatham in North Arcot district. She came to the GH with respiratory problems.

The surgery, which has 99 per cent success rate all over the world, was performed on December 8.

A four-member team of cardio thoracic surgeons, led by S. Visvakumar, operated on Kanthi, who was administered oxygen and remained awake throughout the procedure.

For a government hospital where surgeries are offered free, it is a big achievement, the surgeons say.

Though spinal anaesthesia is usually administered for other kinds of surgeries, it is the first time that the method was adopted for a heart surgery, says S. Krishna Kumar, assistant professor of Anaesthesiology.

Spinal anaesthesia, though not a common practice, reduces the risk of problems during surgery, and does not affect the patient who feels little pain during and after the procedure.

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