BENGALURU: In a path-breaking move, an interventional cardiologist from Bengaluru, Dr Aditya Bharadwaj, has opened new options for stent surgery and other cardiac procedures.
He inserted a heart pumping device and a stent through the axillary artery in the shoulder. Traditionally, a heart pumping device is inserted through the femoral artery in the groin and a stent through a separate artery. Dr Bharadwaj has opened up an optional access point to the affected parts of the heart for cardiologists across the world. Axillary artery is a much closer access point to the heart than the femoral artery, which is through the groin.
The procedure was carried out at Loma Linda University and Heart Institute in California, on a 70-year-old Vietnam war veteran who had recently suffered a cardiac arrest. Doctors found that he had severe coronary artery calcification, a condition where there is a build-up of calcium in the arteries causing blood vessels to shrink, leading to heart diseases.
A press statement by the university stated that surgeons were unable to insert interventions in the vascular entry points because of calcification. Due to the patient’s condition, there were no viable traditional arterial access points. With no options left, Dr Bharadwaj, a medical graduate from Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute, used the axillary artery to insert the stent and the pumping device. This, however, came with risks as working with arteries near the neck could lead to stroke.
However, Dr Bharadwaj carried on with the procedure and the patient was up and walking a few hours after the surgery. He was discharged two days later. "The success of this procedure opens the door for patients to have more viable cardiovascular intervention surgeries. Physicians have conducted single-access procedures through the femoral artery near the groin but never through the axillary artery," Dr Bharadwaj said.