Wockhardt Hospitals Blog

Heart Specialists at Wockhardt Hospitals have found an extremely advantageous surgical procedures which will offer a permanent solution during "Atrial fibrillation"-An Abnormal fast beating of the heart caused by disturbed electrical discharges.The surgery uses the technique of irrigated radio frequency modified maze procedure,which is performed to treat trial fibrillation along with an open heart surgery for valve replacement

Wockhardt Hospitals is the 1st hospital chain in India to treat Chronic Atrial Fibrillation using Maze III procedure.

Atrial fibrillation is usually accompanied by symptoms related to a rapid heart rate. Rapid and irregular heart rates may be perceived as palpitations, exercise intolerance, and occasionally produce angina .

To know more about Wockhardt Hospitals expertise in cardiac and heart care,log onto http://www.wockhardthospitals.net

Minimally Invasive procedure or Minimal Access Surgery involved doing surgery with minimum incision on the affected areas of the body.This kind of surgery which is also sometimes reffered to as 'Keyhole Surgery' is fairly a recent development.

The Wockhart Minimal Access Surgery Department is equipped with High-end technology to perform precision and targeted surgery which until recently required large incisions Minimally Invasive techniques encompasses operative procedures for the Heart, abdomen, urinary tract, reproductive system and joints. This technology not only minimizes surgical trauma, pain and blood loss but also shortens hospitalization stay and recovery time, since the trauma due to blood loss and wound is less which helps a patient to recover faster.

Wockhardt Center for Minimal Access Surgery has acquired the complete range of Endoscopic technology required to carry out Minimal Access Surgery with a complete range of high precision hand instruments.

For more information on Wockhardt Hospitals Minimally Invasive Surgery Techniques log onto http://www.wockhardthospitals.net

Nobody wanted to treat a 12 year old girl with a congenital cardiac defect of criss-crossed ventricles and arteries. Medication could only do much and a temporary fix of the valves would only buy time.However our clinical team at Wockhardt Hospitals wanted more for that girl,we wanted to give back her life.It took a whole year of tests and scans and high risk surgeries to re arrange the girls heart; but in the end we challenged the odds and emerged successful.

A 13-year-old girl from Coorg went through a series of surgeries to correct the wrong positioning of ventricles and arteries in her heart. Congenital cardiac defects of this nature, called congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries, affects not more than one per cent of children born with heart problems. She also had situs inversus, which means all her organs are positioned on the opposite side, including the heart.

In the latest and the most complicated surgery so far, this second child of a farmer couple underwent the double switch operation after left ventricular ‘retraining’ at Wockhardt Hospitals. The pumping chambers and the great arteries, both are inter-changed. That has set right the anomalies in the circulation in her body.The left-sided organs are in the right and vice versa. Her heart is on the right side.” In such patients, the risks are doubled. The heart may start failing as it cannot cope with the body’s requirement of blood circulation with swapped ventricles. Or the heart could develop blocks as the electrical systems of the heart are abnormal. Click here to know more .

However at Wockhardt Hospitals, we dont merely save lives.. we help create and give meaning to India's new generation.

To know more more our pediatric cardiac surgery department and Cardiac Super Specialty Services visit our website at http://www.wockhardthospitals.net/

At Wockhardt Hospitals we believe that a heart ailment is not cured until the patient walks out feeling as good as new.Which is why our 360 degree heart care is a combination of state of art surgery and world class port operative facilities. From Cardio workouts to monitoring we help you to get back on your feet as soon as possible. Because we don’t just perform surgeries, we put people back in their lives.

The Wockhardt Cardiac Rehabilitation center is exclusively meant for post operative care to heart patients. We believe in exercise programs that are tailor made to suit the patients’ medical conditions. You are requested to contact doctors at wockhardt or your GP before beginning any exercise program.

Poor breathing robs energy and negatively affects mental alertness. Unless breathing is exercised, aging affects the respiratory system as follows:

Stiffness: The rib cage and surrounding muscles get stiff causing inhalation to become difficult.

Less elasticity and weak muscles leave stale air in the tissues of the lungs and prevents fresh oxygen from reaching the blood stream.

Rapid, Shallow Breathing: This type of breathing, often caused by poor posture and weak or stiff muscles, leads to poor oxygen supply, respiratory disease, sluggishness, or heart disease.

The following exercises are simple ways to deepen breathing and to cleanse the lungs. These exercises will also increase energy and decrease tension.

Lie flat on your back on a reclined bed and get a proper sense of deep breathing. (You can use pillows ) You also need to support the site of surgery with a cushion. The natural course of breathing in that position will create a slight rise in the stomach upon inhaling and a slight fall upon exhaling.)

In a life affirming incident that renews hope and faith among millions of patients requiring organ transplants, Wockhardt Hospitals,Mulund successfully performed city’s first cadaver liver transplant for the year 2009.The liver surgery was performed at Wockhardt Hospitals,Mumbai led by Dr. S K Mathur, Senior Consultant Surgeon, HPB Surgery & Liver Transplantation, Wockhardt Hospitals.

Mr. Kathuria, 62-year old man who was suffering from advanced liver cirrhosis got a new life by a liver transplant from a 57-year old brain dead patient. This is a successfully completed cadaver liver transplant which has proved once again these kind of complex and delicate, complex can be successfully conducted if the procedure is done within the ‘golden hour’.

Most commonly used Liver transplant technique is orthotopic transplantation, where the original liver is removed and the donor organ is placed in the same location as the original liver.

Liver transplantation is now used in any acute and chronic condition in irreversible liver dysfunction,provided the organ donor do not have conditions to impede liver transplant. A good donor is someone who is in good physical and mental health, older than the age of 18 and free from:

• HIV infection
• Known viral hepatitis
• Active alcoholism with frequent and heavy alcohol intake
• Psychiatric illness under treatment
• History of malignancy
• Heart and lung disease requiring medications
• Diabetes mellitus of greater than 7 years duration

Most Liver transplant are rejected by the recipient unless immunosuppressive drugs are used.Most recipients receive corticosteroids plus a calcinuerin inhibitor such as tacrolimus or Cyclosporin plus a antimetabolite such as Mycophenolate Mofetil.

However Liver transplantation is unique in that the risk of chronic rejection also decreases over time, although recipients need to take immunosuppresive medication for the rest of their lives.

To know more about Wockhardt Hospitals Medical Breakthroughs in Liver Transplant and Digestive Disease Click here

A team of 10 doctors at Wockhardt Hospitals Bangalore led by Dr. Shabeer Ahmed, Minimal Access Surgeon, Wockhardt Hospitals, successfully removed a cancerous tumor involving the abdominal aorta of a 19 year old girl, after a 7 hour long surgery. Saleema (name changed) travelled all the way from Jaipur to undergo the surgery at Wockhardt Hospitals,Bangalore to remove Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumour (PNET), a tumor that originates in cells from the Primitive Neural Crest. This cancerous tumor which involving abdominal aorta is a rare case in the medical history and there have been no reports found on such a rare tumor in the medical literature (reference – Cochrane Library –an international medical library, a collection of databases in medicine and other healthcare specialties provided by the Cochrane Collaboration and other organizations).

Most PNET’s occurs in the brain, extremities, pelvis, chest wall and mediastinum. This is the first quoted instance where a PNET was found in the abdomen involving the Bifurcation Abdominal Aorta. Surgical removal is usually a big challenge and it becomes more when it involves big vessels like the aorta – the big vessel which carries purified blood from heart to other organs.

Generally PNET is a rare tumor, usually occurring in children under 10 years old belongs to the Ewing family of tumors.The Ewing family of tumors is a group of cancers that includes Ewing tumor of bone (ETB or Ewing sarcoma of bone), extraosseous Ewing tumors (EOE tumors), primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNET or peripheral neuroepithelioma), and Askin tumors (PNET of the chest wall). These tumors all come from the same type of stem cell.

During the surgery it was observed that the tumor had spread through the left-ureter, common aorta, bifurcation and the tumor was excised en-bloc along with the aorta.

According to Dr. Shabeer Ahmed, Minimal Access Surgeon, Wockhardt Hospitals, “Most PNET’s occurs in the brain, extremities, pelvis, chest wall and mediastinum. This is the first quoted instance where a PNET was found in the abdomen involving the Bifurcation Abdominal Aorta. Surgical removal is usually a big challenge and it becomes more when it involves big vessels like the aorta – the big vessel which carries purified blood from heart to other organs.”

This was a first of its kind unique medical breakthrough which the Doctors at Wockhardt Hospitals found themselves to be a part of.The Pediatric Cardiac team at Wockhardt Hospitals, Mumbai at Mulund performed a life saving surgery on a 4 hour old baby gifting a life and in the process creating a new heart.

Pediatric Cardiac Consultants at Wockhardt Hospital have successfully performed a critical 2-hour beating heart surgery to allow the flow of blood from the baby’s heart to her lungs, thereby enabling the child to breathe normal. This life threatening, rare cardiac complication in neonates is called Pulmonary Atresia, that requires to be addressed in a critical window period of just a few hours of the baby’s birth, was accomplished in the state-of-the-art dedicated pediatric cardiac set up of the hospital.

A few minutes after her birth out of a planned caesarian section in a private city hospital the baby was shifted to Wockhardt Hospitals at Mulund .Within four hours of her birth, the baby was wheeled in for a beating heart BT Shunt procedure wherein a synthetic tube (shunt) was inserted to connect a new artery the sub clavian artery -- to the pulmonary artery. The sub clavian artery supplies blood to the arms but is now redirected to share supply to the arms and the lungs.

The child suffered from a rare congenital disorder called 'Pulmonary Atresia" where the the pulmonary valve of the heart which controls blood to the lungs was not developed and no blood was reaching the lungs. The child, however survived for a few critical hours due to ductus arteriosus, a valve that is meant for its fetal existence only. This valve shuts close naturally after birth and the corrective surgery was required within this window.

Pulmonary atresia is a congenital malformation of the pulmonary valve in which the valve orifice fails to develop. The valve is completely closed thereby obstructing the outflow of blood from the heart to the lungs.The only source of pulmonary blood flow is a patent ductus arteriosus. Due to this, the newborn baby is blue in color and pulmonary atresia can usually be diagnosed within hours or minutes after birth.

Foetal Echocardiography is used to diagnose heart defects before a child is born. The diagnosis done through foetal echocardiography helps in treating the heart defect in the child at an early stage especially when many times some interventions needs to be done immediately after the birth. Since foetal echocardiography was done in this case the defect was identified and immediately after her birth the baby was brought to Wockhardt Hospitals for treatment.”

In India, over 2.5 million children are born with heart defects every year and many lives are lost due to lack of proper infrastructure, awareness, and poor planning at time of birth. Some 3 per cent of these cases are of those born with Pulmonary Atresia. Timely detection and early treatment can not only save a child but also help him lead a normal and healthy life.

For more information and scheduling appointments with Doctors at Wockhardt Hospitals write into enquiries@wockhardthospitals.net