Kolkata :
Most patients with heart injuries caused by speeding missiles (bullets, daggers, knives) are deprived of treatment because they bleed to death on the way to hospital, or while being operated. A surgeon has been felicitated for correcting the rarest of accident-related heart injuries by the Central Asia Regional Congress of Medical Women in India.
Prof Sushila Mitra, former head department of cardio-thoracic surgery, SSKM Hospital, presented the cases at the congress in a city hotel on Saturday.
Her first presentation was on Jagadhish Khatua (26), who was hit on his right chest by an arrow during an in-fighting between tribal groups at Birbhadrapur village in Midnapore in 1989. Bleeding profusely, he was admitted to SSKM Hospital and the x-ray showed that the tip of the arrow was inside her heart. “We did purse-string sutures on him, and transfused six units of blood. He went home, cured. Today he is totally symptom free, leading a normal life,” Mitra told TOI.
In another case, 18-year-old Tanmoy Gayen, was hit on his left chest by a stray bullet while he was driving his cycle van. He was admitted under Mitra on 4 April, 1998. “Initially, the bullet was missing in his x-ray reports. His chest was opened and closed. A post-operative CT scan showed that the bullet was deep inside his heart. The bullet was finally removed through an open-heart surgery,” Mitra said. She showed pictures of the man, 17 years later to show his fitness.
The surgeon’s third presentation was about 21-year-old Mahesh Chand diagnosed with a hole in his heart. He was admitted on 18 Match, 1994. “During the corrective surgery, the catheter tip accidentally broke inside the heart and got stuck in the right upper chamber of the patient’s heart. He was immediately shifted to the cardiothoracic surgery department and we did an open heart surgery,” Mishra said, adding “the patient was admitted through the night. We removed the ‘foreign body’ first and then the hole in the heart was mended. Post surgery, the patient was on ventilator for two weeks.” Twenty-one years later, Mishra said, the patients is married with a child.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Kolkata / by Ajanta Chakraborty, TNN / December 05th, 2015