A new heart implant, which has shown improved survival rates in advanced heart failure patients in a trial, has been implanted in a patient for the first time in India at Delhi's Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket.
Dr Kewal Krishan, Program Head - Heart transplant and Ventricular assist devices and senior consultant cardiac surgeon at Max Super Specialty Hospital, Saket, performed India's first successful implant of HeartMate 3, which offers physicians the world's most advanced ventricular assist technology available to support the management of patients with advanced stage heart failure.
According to a report titled 'Causes of Death in India 2010-2013' by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India, cardiovascular disease leads to 23 percent of all deaths in India, out of which heart failure accounts for an estimated 2.3 million deaths annually.
The HeartMate 3 implant surgery was performed in early May 2016 on Mr Santoshkiran Kardiawar (name changed), a 69 year old gentleman from New Delhi, who had earlier undergone stenting twice in 2005 and 2009 and had been put on medical management for a triple vessel coronary artery disease, diabetes mellitus and end stage cardiomyopathy with EF 15 percent.
Besides implanting HeartMate 3, Dr Krishan also removed a clot from the right ventricle and repaired the aortic valve. HeartMate 3 LVAD implant was advised as destination therapy for symptomatic end stage heart disease since medical management was found to be insufficient for the patient's condition. Over the past three weeks since the LVAD implant, Mr Santoshkiran's heart condition and quality of life have improved considerably and with immediate effect.
Explaining about this first fully magnetically-levitated left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implant, Dr Krishan said, "Unlike artificial hearts, LVADs don't replace the heart, but supplement the pumping function in patients whose hearts are too weak to pump blood adequately on their own. LVADs can be used in patients who are awaiting heart transplant, as well as patients who cannot undergo transplantation for any reason."
He added, "With the availability of HeartMate 3 system in India, I am glad that advanced heart failure patients will no longer need to travel abroad to get this implant, and I am looking forward to making this system broadly available throughout India.
