A 38-year-old man diagnosed with Type A Aortic Dissection with occlusion of the right leg arteries was revived and given a new lease of life in a city hospital.

Aortic dissection is a rare condition where there is a tear inside the aorta, the main artery that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body.

The man, Shivakumar of Rathinapuri in the city, working in a private firm, had developed sudden and severe pain from his neck radiating to his legs and collapsed after his right limb went limp. He was brought to Sri Ramakrishna Hospital on October 20, where doctors noticed that his right leg was cold, he was not able to move or feel his leg and there was no pulse in the leg.

As Shivakumar’s blood pressure stood at 200/100 mm Hg, an urgent CT angiogram was done and he was diagnosed with Type A aortic dissection with occlusion of the right leg arteries. The tear extended from his heart to arteries in both legs.

Aortic dissection is a surgical emergency and more than 75 per cent of patients die when left untreated, Dr Nandhakumar, Interventional Cardiologist, said in a release.

Shivakumar was taken for emergency surgery, as the surgical correction of aortic dissection is a complex procedure and carries a high risk to life. Median sternotomy was performed and frank blood around his heart was evacuated. He was put on cardiopulmonary bypass and the core temperature was cooled to 18ºC. His circulation was stopped for a brief period and a part of the damaged aorta was excised and replaced with artificial conduit. Since the tear extended to his coronary artery, a bypass graft was performed to supply blood to the artery.

Shivakumar has made good recovery in the post-operative period and is able to walk, climb stairs and take care of himself on the fifth post-operative day, the release said.