Tamil Nadu   

Hospital performs rare surgery

TIRUNELVELI: Perhaps for the first time in South Tamil Nadu, a Dual Chamber AICD device imported from the United States, has been successfully implanted in the body of a 77-year-old woman at Shifa Hospitals, Tirunelveli.

As the Kamali Masillamani of Nazareth in Tuticorin district was suffering from recurrent ventricular tachycardia and blackouts, the device was successfully implanted and programmed by R. Srinivasan, consultant interventional cardiologist of the hospital. The device was implanted under local anaesthesia and the exercise took two hours.

When the heart beat abnormally (arrhythmia) or at high (tachycardia) or low rates (bradycardia, heart block) due to a disease, it can be lethal. This type of problems needs immediate electrical therapy to restore the electrical functions of the heart and hence to save the life of the patient.

There can be a lot of delay in getting treatment and to overcome this, a device called AICD (Artificial Implantable Cardiovertor – Defibrillator), looking similar to a large-sized pacemaker, is implanted just below the left shoulder bone under the soft tissues of the chest cell.

The device keeps monitoring the heat throughout and automatically delivers treatment, if it finds any abnormality, until the problem is medically sorted out. It also gives warning alarm to the patient sometimes. When the patient comes to the doctor later, he can find out the events that had happened through a special computer, called Programmer.

The device’s therapy protocol can be programmed later on according to the patient’s needs.

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