Mumbai: A 60-year-old transgender patient with an immuno-compromised condition recently got a new heart valve free of charge. Known as transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in medical parlance, the unique treatment was performed at the Jaslok Hospital. Notably, the company, which provided sophisticated equipment for the medical procedure, didn't take a penny. Not to mention, that the Jaslok Hospital waived its bill as well considering the social problems of the third gender.
Initially, the patient started to develop breathlessness and difficulty in performing daily activities. After evaluation, the Jaslok TAVI team detected that the patient has a life-threatening disease, severe aortic stenosis.
The aortic valve allows blood to be pumped from the heart to all organs. If this valve gets choked–which happened in this case–the patient begins to develop symptoms of chest pain, breathlessness and can even lose consciousness or pass out frequently. This will eventually lead to heart failure and death in the span of 1-2 years.
Given the patient's frail condition, two surgeons were not in favour of surgery. In this case, the only option left for patients is to replace the aortic valve with a new valve. “The aortic valve replacement can be done surgically or via the transcatheter route. TAVI is done via the artery in the leg and is done under local anaesthesia without any cuts, scars or stitches,” explained Dr Nihar Mehta from Jaslok.
TAVI is a procedure in which a diseased aortic valve is replaced by a brand-new valve without open heart surgery or any cuts, stitches or sutures. This is done under local anaesthesia through a catheter in a blood vessel in the upper leg. The patient can comfortably talk to the doctors throughout the procedure and can have a cup of tea immediately after! Patients are usually discharged within three days of the procedure.
