THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Having collapsed at his workplace, a 47-year-old man — who had no prior history of heart disease — survived a life-threatening cardiac condition following a rare medical intervention.
The incident happened recently in Thiruvananthapuram, with his colleagues rushing him to a hospital nearby.
He was then referred to the KIMSHEALTH for further evaluation and treatment, where he was diagnosed with ventricular tachycardia (VT)—a type of arrhythmia or abnormal heart rhythm that can cause the heart to beat too fast, making it unable to pump blood effectively. After initial stabilisation, doctors found his heart muscle function had severely deteriorated for unknown reasons.
According to doctors, such arrhythmias or irregular heartbeats have the potential to cause abrupt cardiac arrest and death. Thus, in order to identify the cause and treatment for the patient, a team under the direction of Dr Anees Thajudeen, senior consultant in cardiology and electrophysiology, carried out VT mapping and ablation.
“Using electrical mapping, we detected the scarred areas in the heart tissue that were generating these irregular rhythms. Once those areas were ablated, the abnormal rhythms stopped,” Dr Thajudeen said.
To prevent future episodes, doctors also implanted a defibrillator—a device that can detect and correct life-threatening heart rhythms by delivering an electric shock when necessary. Before the procedure, the patient had suffered repeated cardiac arrests, which also affected the function of his kidneys and liver.
Dr Thajudeen said managing high-risk patients like this involves more than treating the heart alone. “A coordinated effort from critical care, nephrology, cardiac surgery, and anaesthesia teams is essential in such cases,” he noted.