Incidence of triple vessel heart disease in Punjab is quite high, almost 50% in diabetics and over 6% in non-diabetic patients
Punjab Connection: 19 years since world’s first multi-vessel beating heart bypass surgery
By Raju William
Ludhiana, July 13, 2017: It was on July 13, 1998 that Dr Harinder Singh Bedi achieved a feat that catapulted Punjab to the centre stage of the global field of cardiac surgery.
He performed the world’s first bypass surgery using innovative multi vessel beating heart surgery technique. He was at that time Chairman, Cardiac Sciences at Tagore Hospital, Jalandhar.
Multi vessel bypass surgery is the surgery of all the three heart arteries. Dr Bedi’s feat was acknowledged in the millennium edition of Limca Book of Records in 2000.
To commemorate the surgery 19 years after it was performed, Dr Bedi- presently Chairman of Cardio-Vascular Sciences, Ludhiana Mediways Hospital- appeared at a special function along with Labh Singh, a farmer from Sirsa, Haryana on whom the surgery was first done.
Founder President and Patron of the Association of North Zone Cardio-Vascular and Thoracic Surgeons, Dr Bedi termed it a proud moment in the history of cardiac surgery in Punjab.
“The incidence of triple vessel heart disease in Punjab is quite high, almost 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,” commented Dr Bedi.
“As a result of innovations and developments in technology, the safety of Cardio-Vascular Surgery is close to 99% today,” he added.
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Dr Bedi and his team with Labh Singh, the first patient in Punjab to undergo multi vessel beating heart bypass surgery
Subsequently, Dr Bedi and his team performed multi-vessel beating heart surgery on more patients in Punjab. A 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.
“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,” he said.
Earlier, multi-vessel bypass surgery 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.
Dr Bedi explained that 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 because of which quite a few patients would need blood transfusion. 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.
How multi vessel beating heart bypass was done on the first patient:
“In July 1998, a patient named Mr. Labh Singh, a 58 year old farmer from Sirsa came to me in Jalandhar with a heart attack, which we controlled temporarily. He was suffering from blockage of all the three heart arteries and needed surgery, but 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,” narrated Dr Bedi.
Dr Bedi can be reached at cardiaccarecentre1@gmail.com. His mobile phone contact is +91-98140-60480.