Doc claims this is the first time the operation, Potts shunt, has been performed in Indian hospital
Shikha Girdharwal, the patient, with her husband Amit (left) and Dr Prashant Bobhate
A 36-year-old woman suffering from idiopathic pulmonary artery hypertension (IPAH)—a rare lung disorder characterized by high blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries—has been treated by a city doctor who performed a transcatheter Potts shunt, a cutting-edge procedure. If not for the operation, the patient would have had to undergo a heart and lung transplant. Shikha Girdharwal, a housewife and mother of a nine-year-old, had been receiving treatment for IPAH at Kokilaben hospital for a year. But her condition gradually worsened and she had to be admitted to the hospital on August 31.
Dr Prashant Bobhate, consultant, Children’s Heart Centre, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, said, “The patient experienced increased lung pressure and her symptoms elevated significantly. She was fainting frequently and was extremely fatigued, dizzy and unable to walk even 10 metres. In this condition, an increase in the pressure in the lung artery leads to an increase in pressure on the heart too and due to which the right side of the heart starts failing. There are medications to treat this problem but in this case, the disease had progressed.” According to the doctor, a specialist in IPAH treatment, one option was to do a heart and lung transplant. “It is costly and longevity is also a little challenging because patients have to be on immunosuppressive drugs. So we planned to perform a Potts shunt procedure,” Dr Bobhate added.
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Explaining the procedure, the specialist said, “We put a stent and made communication between her lung artery and body artery, which helps to equalize the pressure between the two, thus reducing pressure in the lung artery. This helps to improve heart function. Ideally, the lung artery blood pressure must be less than 20 mm Hg (millimetres of mercury) but in this case, it was above 100 mm Hg. In such a case, the heart has to pump blood across the artery. So we created a bypass between the lung artery and the body artery. So the pressure which is in the lung artery gets bypassed through the body artery.”
The doctor added that Kokilaben hospital is the first and only hospital in India to use the method. “This surgery was comparatively less risky than the dual transplant. For a heart and lung transplant, it may cost around R50 lakh while the Potts stunt procedure cost around Rs 5 to Rs 6 lakh,” he added. The patient’s husband Amit Girdharwal, an engineer, said, “The problem was detected one year back and since then her health has been deteriorating. It is a very challenging time for our family. We are a family of three so I have to look after my wife and daughter. I took leave from work to handle the situation. She has now started walking slowly and, as per the doctors, it will take time to recover and we are following up continuously.”
What is Potts shunt?
It is a surgical procedure that usually involves side-to-side anastomosis, or connection between two structures. A shunt refers to a small passage which allows the movement of fluid from one part of the body to another. The procedure is minimally invasive, relatively less costly, and has a fast recovery rate.
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