a day ago
Latur grandmom gets Rs 19 lakh gift from KEM Hospital in Mumbai: A clip for her leaky heart valve
Mumbai: For a 66-year-old grandmother from Latur who was breathing with difficulty for almost six months, doctors at the civic-run KEM Hospital had a surprise gift: a Rs 19-lakh new device to fix the leaking mitral valve causing her symptoms.
The mitral valve is one of the four that regulates the flow of blood through the heart. When it becomes diseased, the patient suffers from shortness of breath, fatigue, dry cough, and fainting spells, among other symptoms. Worse, the patient could develop heart failure or even a stroke.
"My grandparents live alone in interior Latur and couldn't manage with the symptoms," said Ravi Shinde (name changed on request). He brought his grandmother to KEM Hospital in Parel for a consultation and was pleasantly surprised to hear a surgery-free method was possible.
The device, a mitral clip, would help the valve close, prevent infections, and improve the quality of life.
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"This was done within 15 days of our arrival in Mumbai," Shinde said, adding his grandmother was now breathing normally in the ward. The family only paid Rs 2,500 for registration.
The 66-year-old patient suffered a heart attack a few months back and underwent angioplasty at a local hospital. "She initially improved but began experiencing breathlessness on exertion within a few months due to a leaking mitral valve—a known complication of heart attacks," said head of cardiology at KEM Hospital, Dr Ajay Mahajan, who performed the M-TEER (minimally invasive transcatheter edge-to-edge repair) on June 30.
Tradionally, an open heart surgery was done to fix leaking valve, but now minimally invasive method is used. The patient was initially advised surgery, but it was risky due to her age and comorbidities. In the minimally invasive method, a clip-like device was inserted via a catheter, avoiding the need for surgery, Dr Mahajan explained.
The KEM Hospital team got the made-in-India device for free as an inaugural offer by manufacturers Meril Life Sciences; the original American device costs around Rs 35 lakh. Senior cardiologist Dr Ashok Seth from Fortis Esco-rts Heart Institute in New Delhi, who conducted a clinical trial for the device, said it works well for those patients who can't withstand surgery.
