HYDERABAD: In a first-of-its-kind procedure in India, the team of electrophysiologists at AIG Hospitals treated the irregular heartbeat of a high-risk patient who already had an artificial heart pump implant. The 34-year-old engineer had an advanced heart failure and an implanted artificial heart pump known as left ventricular assist device.
When he came to AIG Hospitals with an irregular heartbeat issue, he was diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia - a life-threatening arrhythmia involving extremely fast heart rates. "Initially multitudes of medications were employed with little effect, which prompted attempts to provide a therapeutic electric shock which again proved unsuccessful. Our concern was that if left untreated, this leads to worsening of right-sided heart chambers and increases risk to the patient," said doctors.
To resolve this, the electrophysiology specialists at AIG, led by Dr C Narasimhan performed a complicated procedure that involved introducing multiple catheters through various blood vessels into the heart. Using this, electrical signals were analysed to precisely find the problematic site from which this rhythm problem was arising.
"After finding the site, a 3-D mapping system (Ensite Navx) was used to navigate and precisely localise the target. Finally, radio frequency energy was employed to terminate the arrhythmia - a procedure termed VT Ablation," added Dr Narasimhan.