COIMBATORE: In what could be termed as a breakthrough in medical procedure, a team of doctors in a city hospital has performed trans catheter tricuspid heart valve replacement via the groin vessel on beating heart, “valve-in- the-valve .procedure” for a degenerated tissue valve, claimed to be the first in India.

The 65-year-old Lucy Karanja, a retired staff nurse from Nairobi, was diagnosed with tumor in the heart affecting the right sided tricuspid valve and was operated in Iowa, U.S.A. in 2013. But the attempt to repair the valve failed and consequently, she underwent a Tricuspid valve replacement with a tissue valve, but she developed complete heart block and a permanent pacemaker was implanted.

However, there was accelerated degeneration of this tissue valve owing to which she developed severe narrowing and leakages through the valve.

As she was brought to Kovai Medical Centre and Hospital (KMCH) the doctors found that the only way to treat this was to have a repeat high risk open heart surgery.

However, Dr. Prashant Vaijyanath, Director, Cardiac Surgery, advised an alternative strategy to replace the diseased valve through a groin puncture without stopping the heart and without the need of repeat high risk redo cardiac surgery on heart-lung machine.

The procedure was performed on Thursday and was technically successful and Lucy has completely recovered and can expect a normal life. She will be discharged soon, KMCH Chairman Dr. Nalla G. Palaniswamy said in a release on Friday.

There are several patients in India with tissue valves prone to degeneration as the life of tissue valves is approximately 10-15 years. Such patients traditionally warrant a high risk repeat open heart surgery on heart-lung machine with significant morbidity and mortality, A “Valve-in-Valve” technique may be suitable alternative to them avoiding the redo risky operation, he said.