22-yr-old girl undergoes rare surgery

CHENNAI: Twenty-two-year-old A Lavanya, put on a ventilator, lies on the hospital bed breathing for her life.

She is just recovering from a life-saving surgery for a rare condition: Takayasu’s arteritis, a chronic inflammatory auto-immune disease which primarily affects the aorta (the main blood vessel of the heart) and its branches.

Until recently, Lavanya’s family had no idea there was something wrong with her. “A year ago, she had a couple of fainting episodes but we did not take them seriously,’’ said her mother A Padmini.

About three months back, the symptoms worsened. At one point could not walk more than 10 steps without feeling dizzy.

Her family consulted local doctors in Perungudi where they live but no one was able to diagnose her. Finally, a friend of her brothers’ recommended they visit the Government General Hospital in the city.

“When Lavanya came to us earlier this month, she was in bad shape. We immediately performed a battery of tests and diagnosed Takayasu’s disease. At that point, we realised she needed surgery,’’ said Dr S Visvakumar, professor of cardio-thoracic surgery at the hospital.

The disease in itself is rare and what Lavanya had - a critical block in her left main coronary artery - was even more challenging. “We scheduled a surgery and put her on top of the list as her condition was bad. On Monday, we performed a bypass surgery in which a vein was used to bypass her coronary arteries and connected it to the aorta.

This was extremely difficult as the aorta was thick and brittle,’’ Dr Visvakumar said.

The surgery was successful, but as even the blood vessels in her lung were compromised; Lavanya was put on a ventilator. This, doctors said, was only temporary and she would be taken off it soon.

“We have now taken care of her heart which was the immediate problem. The rest of her vascular system will have to be managed medically through drugs such as steroids,’’ said Dr B Mariappan, assistant professor at the department.

Doctors are hopeful that Lavanya will slowly get better and plan to discharge her in 10 days. Meanwhile, her family is just praying she will be all right.

Source: http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=22-yr-old+girl+undergoes+rare+surgery&artid=5FBWtF8ybCo=&SectionID=lifojHIWDUU=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=rSY|6QYp3kQ=&SEO=Takayasu’s%20arteritis