Latest news with #AtrialSeptalDefect


Time of India
30-07-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Woman survives life-threatening tear due to dislodging of heart closure device
Lucknow: In what could be dubbed as a miraculous surgery, doctors managed to save the life of a 46-year-old woman from Fatehpur after a heart closure device got dislodged, leading to a life-threatening tear in her heart. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The surgery was done at Max Super Speciality Hospital on May 30. Nazma Bano, 46, was unknowingly living with a congenital heart condition — an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD), a hole between the heart's upper chambers — since childhood. On May 29, she underwent a non-surgical device closure to seal the hole in Prayagraj. However, the device got dislodged and slipped into the right ventricle, disrupting the tricuspid valve. A retrieval attempt led to a tear in the left atrial appendage, causing massive internal bleeding around the heart. Her blood pressure crashed, and with no surgical option available locally, doctors urgently contacted Max Hospital. "Such holes can go undetected for years; we've even closed ASDs in patients aged 60. She only discovered it recently when she began experiencing breathlessness. An echocardiogram revealed a large defect with an enlarged right heart," said Dr Vishal Srivastava, associate director, cardiothoracic and vascular surgery at Max Hospital. Dr Srivastava advised immediate drainage of blood from the pericardium and reinfusion to stabilise her for transfer. "She arrived at Max Hospital around 3.30 am in profound shock. As we shifted her to the operation room, her heart stopped. We started internal cardiac massage, and the heart restarted," he said. The surgical team removed the dislodged device, repaired the torn atrial wall, and closed the original defect. The operation lasted over four hours. "She was in shock for nearly six hours—a situation that usually leads to multi-organ failure," Dr Srivastava noted. Nazma was off the ventilator in less than a day and discharged a week later in stable condition. She is now back home and recovering well.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘That was the last place I would look at': NH mom, two daughters share rare medical condition
A New Hampshire mom suffered two strokes at a young age. After she got her heart checked, she decided to get her entire family checked. What the team at Tufts detected was incredibly rare. 'I feel like the whole thing happened so that I could have them checked,' said Heather Strong of New Boston, New Hampshire. She's feeling healthy and grateful now—-but that's how the New Hampshire mom felt even before she had her first stroke at 47 years old. 'My arm was just swinging in front of me and so when I grabbed it, it was all numb and I was like, you know, what's happening and as I was trying to compute what was happening, my right leg also gave out and so I just fell on the floor and just was there with my whole right side was just numb,' said Heather. Luckily for Heather, after a few minutes she got the feeling back. A nurse herself, Heather knew something wasn't right, even though she lived a healthy lifestyle and was a former three sport athlete and avid hiker. 'I always you know really put my heart to the test for my whole life,' said Heather. 'So I didn't suspect anything with my heart. Like that was the last place I would look at.' Despite not having any of the classic risk factors for a stroke, Dr. Carey Kimmelstiel at Tufts Medical Center found Heather had a couple of holes in her heart—a rare condition known as Atrial Septal Defect. 'One in every 2,000 live births, you know the majority of those will be picked up in childhood,' said Dr. Carey Kimmelstiel, with interventional cardiology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston. 'And one thing you can say for sure is that the earlier you close them, the better the patients do.' Instead of open heart surgery--in 2016 the FDA approved an ASD closure device--to close the hole in a quick, outpatient procedure. 'And we were like the leading center in terms of enrolling those trials and implanting devices in a study that believe it or not went on for nine years and was ultimately shown to decrease the incidence of recurrent stroke,' Dr. Kimmelstiel. Dr. Kimmelstiel implanted the tiny metal device to help close the holes in Heather's heart—-but little did he know—she wasn't the only Strong family member he'd have to treat. Heather strong 'He was like you can have them checked,' said Heather. 'And I kind of took that as I'm getting them checked and you're doing it now.' Out of Heather's three adult daughters the Tufts team learned two of them also had holes in their hearts. Both Emma and Molly also decided to get the same procedure as their mother. 'So we went on the same day and our procedure was back to back,' said Emma Strong. 'I went first and she was after. It was kind of fun. Yeah, like it was a little outing to Boston.' And they also had Dr. Kimmelstiel overseeing it all. 'It was very quick, I didn't feel any pain,' said Molly Strong. Just as rare as the condition, is the same doctor performing the procedure on three family members... 'I've been doing this a while, a long time, and it's you know, you can count on one hand,' said Dr. Kimmelstiel. The Strong family is hoping their ASD devices will prevent any future strokes—and keep their hearts strong from here on out after learning a valuable lesson. 'I would just say it's better to know than to not know, like go get checked if anything you have concerns and figure it out, face it head on rather than be worried about what it could be,' said Emma. ASD is twice as common in women as it is in men and there may be some genetic component to it, but Dr. Kimmelstiel says more studies need to be done. By filling holes in the heart, the device also prevents heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW