PM's bypass surgery begins at AIIMS

NI Wire

New Delhi

Sat, 24 Jan 2009: 

A coronary artery bypass surgery on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh began on Saturday morning at around 7:30 am at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi.

Earlier in this week, after a series of medical checkups it was discovered that Dr. Singh had developed multiple blockages in his art.

The operation is to make pass an alternate route for the supply of blood using graft arteries and vessels derived from other parts of the body.

Singh in 1990 had already undergone heart surgery in which three grafts were made by sidelining the blockade parts to carry blood. This second operation is to replace those older grafts which have once again started to narrow.

The operation which is expected to last up to 6-8 hours is being undertaken by a team of 11 doctors from AIIMS and Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai led by Dr Ramakant Panda.

Dr. Singh, 76, had a history of heart ailments which had compelled him to undergo a cardiac bypass surgery in 1990 in UK, and an angioplasty in Delhi in 2004 in which stents were introduced in his arteries.

The doctors also have to keep added precautions viewing Singh a diabetic patient and also to keep his blood pressure under control.

Meanwhile, in the absence of Prime Minister as the operation suggests him to take a break for at least four to six weeks, President Pratibha Patil has assigned the additional charge of the Ministry of Finance to External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

Need of Bypass Surgery

Like any other parts of the body, heart needs oxygen and blood to function properly. Coronary arteries are constant blood carriers to heart muscles, however, any blockage in those arteries due to the buildup of fat, cholesterol and other substances led to damage of heart muscles. Then, coronary artery bypass surgery is the only option to treat heart disease.

The bypass surgery usually applied when procedures like angioplasty or medicines fail to clear the blockage. In the surgery, doctors use healthy blood vessels taken from some other parts of body like leg, arm, chest or abdomen, and then connect it to the other arteries of the heart, thereby creating an alternate route for normal blood flow.