CHENNAI: When O Nagaraj (38) was in the operation theatre at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital to undergo a double-valve replacement, doctors had to do what they had never done before in any other open-heart surgery.
They stood on his left side instead of on the other to perform the surgery as Nagaraj, a labourer from Vellore district, was a peculiar case having his heart on the right side of his body.
In fact, doctors found Nagaraj had even his other major organs like liver and spleen, aortic arch and blood vessels on the opposite from the normal position, an unusual anomaly called Dextrocardia with situs inversus totalis, which is found one in 50,000 births. The doctors, further, observed that he is only the second reported case in the world and the first in the country to undergo a double-valve replacement with an unusual anatomy, the first case being reported in Turkey.
Doctors had to perform the surgery to replace his damaged mitral valve and aortic valve with great difficulty as they were not used to the anatomy.
However, they did not change the position of his organs. “It is an anomaly found at birth. So, it’s natural. We didn’t change the position of his organs. Also, here, it is not the double-valve replacement surgery performed that is rare. It is the anomaly that is rare and our approach is different,” explained Dr Raja Venkatesh, Head, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, RGGGH.
Doctors said Nagaraj, who came with complaints of shortness of breath and fluid accumulation in his lungs, had two of his four heart valves damaged due to rheumatic heart disease. The surgery, which could cost around `5 lakh, was performed under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme.