Dr. Prateek Bhatnagar, Director Cardiac Surgery & Chief Cardiology Surgeon at Care Hospital, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, has successfully operated & discharged India’s first post Covid 19 recovered patient who on 16th July, 2020, underwent a triple bypass surgery under Dr. Bhatnagar & his team of doctors here.
This is a first of its kind surgery. So far, in India, there has been no experience of a Corona positive patient who had recovered from infection, became negative and then undergone bypass surgery and was successfully discharged.
63 years old Afsar Khan resident of Karwan, Hyderabad had been having coronary artery disease and chest pain on exertion for about a year. In November 2019, he underwent CT coronary angiography which showed blocks in all 3 coronary arteries of the heart. He was kept on medical management, Unfortunately, he developed Covid 19 infection, became corona positive and was admitted to Gandhi Hospital in early April this year. He stayed there for 22 days. After a successful treatment, he recovered & became Corona negative in April end. However, after discharge from hospital, his heart symptoms increased and in May he developed unstable angina. With increasing chest pain, he underwent coronary angiography in June. This showed blocks in left main coronary artery, 100% block in LAD coronary artery, as well as tight block in right coronary artery. He was still corona negative.
With further increase in chest pain the patient approached renowned Cardiac Surgeon Dr. Prateek Bhatnagar and was admitted at Care Hospital, Banjara Hills. His HRCT chest showed no active Covid 19 lesions and some pulmonary fibrosis. His RTPCR was again negative.
After detailed counseling with patient & attendants, a team led by Chief Cardiac Surgeon Dr. Prateek Bhatnagar and including anaesthetists, Dr. Vijay Mohan & Dr. Rajesh & junior surgeons Dr. Bhadra & Dr. Snigdha performed a triple bypass surgery on Mr. Afsar Khan, using beating heart total arterial Ý’ grafting on 16th July 2020. By using the technique of beating heart surgery, use of heart lung machine was excluded. This prevented the risk of “pump lungs”, which may happen in high risk patients like this. Use of arterial grafting, should provide long term benefits too. The patient had an excellent recovery. He was walking & eating the next day of surgery. His lungs responded well. He is being discharged today in a good medical condition.
According to Dr. Prateek Bhatnagar, in corona positive patients, the main worry has been the function of lungs, particularly in those who had LRTI ( lower respiratory tract infection), like in this patient. This manifests as ground glass opacities in HRCT chest. After recovery from Covid 19, the lungs in such patients continue to show some pathological abnormalities like pulmonary fibrosis. This may reduce a patient’s lung function. Mr. Khan also had some pulmonary fibrosis. Hence, there was a dilemma whether such patients can undergo a successful major surgery like a bypass surgery, which needs use of ventilator for some time.
The positive experience gained by this pioneering surgery will be very useful for all the heart patients all over India and abroad, who have recovered from Covid 19 infection and need a bypass surgery. These patients can now also undergo bypass surgery, after a proper work up.
The patient Mr. Afsar Khan is extremely happy with his recovery. The patient’s son Mr. Mohd Parvez Khan said “we were very afraid before surgery because he had recovered from Covid 19 and then developed critical blocks in his coronary arteries in the heart. We are extremely happy with the excellent bypass surgery conducted by Dr. Prateek Bhatnagar and his team at Care Hospital, Banjara Hills,Hyderabad.”
This pioneering surgery is being sent for publication in medical journals.
Dr.Prateek Bhatnagar is one of India’s Best Cardiac Surgeons & is currently working as Director, Cardiac Surgery at Care Hospitals, Banjara Hills, Hyderabad.