 Awake cardiac surgery in Madurai
A rare cardiac surgery during which the patient is not given general anaesthesia and remains awake throughout the procedure, has been performed on a 53-year-old man at a private hospital in
Madurai.
A two-graft coronary artery bypass was performed on Nagarajan, a bus conductor, at the Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre (MMHRC) July 10., 2006.
This was the first time the "awake cardiac surgery" was done in Tamil Nadu, the hospital authorities claim.
Dr A R Raguram, chief cardiac surgeon at the MMHRC, told reporters that Nagarajan of Dindigul was admitted with severe chest pain.
During the surgery, the patient was awake. As he was talking and joking, his chest was cracked open and the two grafts were sewn as the heart was continually beating.
According to Dr S Kumar, chief cardiac anaesthesiologist of MMHRC, this was made possible because the patient's pain was completely arrested by selectively blocking those nerves using a strategically placed catheter in the back and continuously injecting drugs. This is called cervical epidural
anaesthesia.
One of the main advantages of the procedure was the absence of an irritating tube in the throat (used for anaesthesia) for the patient.
According to Kumar, another advantage is that the blood pressure variation during the surgery is reduced to the minimum and the patient is spared the discomfort of a tube in the nose and throat. The intensive care unit stay is
minimised.
However, he cautioned that this procedure was not meant for everybody as it needs anaesthetists with high degree of technical competence and vigilant care during surgery and a patient with a cooperative attitude. (Agencies)
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