In Rare Surgery, Doctors Fix Delhi Man's Ruptured Heart

New Delhi: In a rare and difficult surgery, doctors repaired a ruptured heart - a complication that occurs in 2 per cent of cardiac arrest patients. Fifty five-year-old Vinod Kumar, an accountant, fainted while at work on Christmas day last month. He was rushed to Delhi's Apollo Hospital where the doctors in the emergency unit resuscitated him and immediately put him on ventilator support.

His heart had sustained a wound causing blood loss and compression over the heart - a condition that can be fatal even before detection. 

A senior cardio thoracic and vascular surgeon and his team immediately began operating on Mr Kumar. 

During the operation, the surrounding layer of the heart (pericardium) was removed to evacuate the fluid that had collected around his heart. But the problem was far from over, Mr Kumar's heart had a rupture. He was immediately put on a heart-lung machine that took over the functions of his heart and lung to facilitate the cardiac surgery.

"The moment we removed the pericardium, blood clots gushed out adding to the challenge to find the source of the problem. We found that Vinod's heart had an inch- long wound on the back of the left ventricle. A hole in the wall of the heart is extremely rare and fatal in most cases," Dr Mukesh Goel said. 

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Vinod Kumar has made a full recovery without any complications and will soon be discharged from the hospital. But doctors have a word of advice, "Heart attack can manifest in multiple ways and even just feeling unwell should not be ignored, especially if one is above 40. Heart attack and cardiac diseases can be ruled out via a simple ECG and blood test," Dr Goel said.