Ex-speaker undergoes rare heart procedure

Former speaker of the Maharashtra assembly and Shiv Sena leader Dattaji Nalawade (67) was operated upon by a team of senior cardiologists at Jaslok Hospital earlier this week using a technique that was perhaps for the first time employed in India for such a case.

Nalawade was brought to the hospital around six months ago after he suffered a cardiac arrest. Further diagnosis revealed that he was unfit for open heart surgery owing to an extremely weak heart and his age.

"If untreated, he would have survived only for a few months. We decided to do valve replacement without open heart surgery only through groin puncture," said Dr AB Mehta,who was part of the operating team.

Using X-ray control, an artificial heart valve was carried to the original valve via the right groin artery. The process is called trans cutaneous aortic valve implantation (TAVI).

"Post the hour-long surgery, the patient was shifted to the ICCU for further observation and is recovering well," said interventional cardiologist Dr Ajit Desai.

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