`World's First Innovations In Cardio-Vascular Surgery- The Punjab Connection'

Ludhiana, July 13, 2017: The Cardiac Care Centre, a unit of Ludhiana Mediways Hospital, held a press conference on the topic ‘Innovations in Cardio-Vascular Surgery-The Punjab Connection’ on 13th July 2017 in Ludhiana Mediways Hospital, Ludhiana. The press conference was held to mark the completion of 19 years after Punjab’s and the World’s first multi-vessel total arterial beating heart bypass surgery, which was done on Mr Labh Singh, a farmer from Sirsa. On this occasion, Dr Harinder Singh Bedi, Chairman Cardio-Vascular Sciences of Ludhiana Mediways Hospital said, “As a result of innovations and developments in technology, the safety of Cardio-Vascular Surgery is close to 99% today. The incidence of triple vessel heart disease in Punjab is very high- 50% in Diabetics and over 6% in non-diabetic patients. Therefore, the development of the technique of multi-vessel beating heart surgery is an important milestone for Punjab.”

Dr. H.S. Bedi commented, “Stress, poor lifestyle choices, junk food, lack of exercise and a genetic predisposition cause blockage in the heart arteries of Indians, especially Punjabis leading to heart disease and heart attacks. Cases of advanced blockage of arteries of the heart have to be treated through bypass surgery. Earlier, multi-vessel bypass surgery (bypass surgery of all the three heart arteries) was done by stopping the heart and lungs and using an artificial machine called the Heart Lung machine to take over the function of both these vital organs. For about 1- 2 hours, the patient would be on artificial life support. The surgeon would then do the delicate surgery on a non beating, still heart. Although the results of multi-vessel bypass surgery with this method were good, some patients would suffer consequences like brain, liver, kidney and lung dysfunction. The heart lung machine would damage blood cells and quite a few patients would need blood transfusion. Also, the procedure was expensive as the imported heart lung machine cost about Rs 80 lacs. Moreover, many patients having pre-existing lung, kidney or brain disease could not be operated by this method.”

Dr.Bedi, who is the Founder President and Patron of the Association of North Zone Cardio-Vascular & Thoracic Surgeons (ANZCTS) narrated, “In July 1998, a patient named Mr. Labh Singh, a 58 year old farmer from Sirsa came to me in Jallandhar with a heart attack, which we controlled temporarily. Mr Labh Singh had blockage of all the three heart arteries and needed surgery, but he was refused treatment at various centres as he had severe lung and kidney disease and a weak heart, which made putting him on a heart lung machine very risky. Opting for an innovation, I decided to use beating heart surgery for him because I realized that he would again get a heart attack if he was not treated surgically. I had been using this technique for people, who had blockage of single and double blood vessels of the heart. However, this patient had blockage of all the three heart arteries. With due precautions and with Mr Labh Singh’s informed consent, we did triple-vessel bypass surgery on Labh Singh’s beating heart using four arterial grafts. (Arterial grafts are preferred over venous grafts because they last much longer). Consequently, Mr. Labh Singh did well and went back to work actively as a farmer. Dr. Bedi emphasized, “The challenge in Labh Singh’s case was to give a lasting graft without damaging his heart, lungs or brain because safety and long term results are the key words in Cardiac Surgery. 19 years after he underwent triple vessel bypass surgery, Labh Singh is hale and hearty! The success of this patient’s cardiac surgery can be attributed to innovation and regular follow-ups.”

Dr. Bedi added, “Subsequently, we did multi-vessel beating heart surgery in more patients and our series of 100 such cases was published in the most prestigious U.S Journal, ‘The Annals of Thoracic Surgery’ in January 2000 after thorough peer review. (Global Myocardial Revascularisation Without Cardiopulmonary Bypass Using Innovative Techniques for Myocardial Stabilisation and Perfusion ' Bedi HS. Annals of Thoracic Surgery 2000, 69; 156-64.). It has also been acknowledged as a World First by The Limca Book of World Records 2000.

On this occasion, Dr Baldeep Singh, and Mr Gurmeet Singh Kular, Chairman and Managing Director of the hospital respectively, stressed on their commitment of delivering world class care to the people of this region.