Cardiologists at Kauvery Hospital perform multiple life-saving procedures on a 55-year old school teacher who suffered heart attack and heart arrhythmias
Chennai, 19 th July 2022: Kauvery Hospital Chennai, a unit of Kauvery Group of Hospitals, a
leading multispecialty healthcare chain in Tamil Nadu, successfully performed three life-saving
procedures on a 55-year old woman with dangerous cardiac arrhythmias (heart rhythm
problems).
Mrs. Radha Balaji, a 55-year-old school teacher, presented to the emergency department with an
acute illness. She was diagnosed to be having an acute myocardial infarction (MI; heart attack),
complicated by bradycardia (slow heart rate) and cardiogenic shock (failure of the heart to pump
blood efficiently to the body, causing the blood pressure to fall to dangerous levels).
Immediately she underwent emergency primary angioplasty and stenting to the blocked vessel
(right coronary artery). In view of the cardiogenic shock, she required hemodynamic support
from an intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) to safely undergo the procedure. She repeatedly had
multiple episodes of ventricular tachycardia (VT), which is a very dangerous heart rhythm
abnormality during and after procedure. She needed at least 14 shocks from an external
defibrillator.
Speaking on the condition and the multiple procedures, Dr. Deep Chandh Raja- Clinical Lead of
Cardiac Electrophysiology at Kauvery Hospital Chennai said, “This clinical scenario is called a
post-MI VT storm; the patient was very much caught in the eye of the storm. The VT did not
revert to normal with medications. Her status was further complicated by the presence of mitral
valve prolapse and long QT syndrome (anatomical and electrical abnormalities respectively.
Hence, on the 4 th day, she was taken for a radiofrequency ablation procedure (a procedure to
destroy the cells that cause arrhythmias) at the Hybrid Cath Lab operating room. An advanced 3-
dimensional navigation system was used to find the source that was triggering the ventricular
tachycardia. After a 6-hour long and arduous procedure she was made free of the VT. Her blood
pressure and hemodynamics promptly improved. As she had a predisposition to dangerous heart
rhythms, she also received implantation of a percutaneous defibrillator on the next day to protect
her from such episodes in the future. She underwent cardiac rehabilitation during the following
days in the hospital with graded mobilization and nutrition. On day 14, she was discharged from
the hospital and was home.”
“The state-of-art infrastructure, the Hybrid Cath Lab and a well-coordinated team of
Cardiologists, Cardiac Anesthetists and Cardiac Surgeons at the Kauvery Hospital, gave me the
confidence to perform these complex procedures on the patient. Without this procedure, it would
not have been possible to pull the patient out of the VT storm.” added Dr. Deep Chandh Raja,
who has returned from Australia after a 3-year advanced training in Cardiac Electrophysiology
from Canberra hospitals and the Australian National University.
Dr. Sundar C, Senior Consultant Interventional Cardiologist, who is the primary treating
Interventional Cardiologist said, “Timely angioplasty saved her from a massive heart attack and
cardiogenic shock. It was a difficult situation when she also had a VT storm during and after
procedure, which was due to her inherent long QT Syndrome. The Cardiac Electrophysiologist
ensured that the patient had no more VT by performing the ablation procedure. Managing the
situation might not have been possible without the necessary infrastructure. The support from the
hospital team and the trust from the patient’s family helped us to achieve this success.”
Speaking on the successful treatment, Dr. Aravindan Selvaraj- Co-Founder and Executive
Director, Kauvery Hospital Chennai said, “While the primary percutaneous angioplasty was a
life-saving procedure by itself, radiofrequency ablation of the dangerous heart rhythm was also
crucial to save the life of this patient who was in a VT storm. The hospital, which is well
equipped with ECMO, Hybrid Cath labs, and the necessary infrastructure, along with
internationally trained Cardiac Electrophysiologists, can treat such complexities in heart rhythm
disorders. I congratulate Dr. C Sundar, Dr. Deep Chandh Raja and the team for saving the life of
this wonderful school teacher.”
Kauvery Hospital is the only hospital in Tamil Nadu to have a team of four Cardiac
Electrophysiologists (Heart Rhythm Specialists)- Dr Deep Chandh Raja S Consultant
Cardiologist and Clinical Lead – Cardiac Electrophysiology (Chennai), Dr Sakthivel, Consultant
Electrophysiologist (Chennai), Dr P Vijay Sekar Consultant Cardiology and Cardiac
Electrophysiology (Trichy) and Dr T Joseph, Consultant Interventional Cardiologist &
Electrophysiologist (Trichy). The hospital also has a three 3-dimensional electrophysiology
navigation system at Chennai, Trichy and Tirunelveli.
One can get in touch with the Heart Rhythm specialists for opinions through a dedicated 24*7
helpline number via telephone or WhatsApp on +91 80562 04449. In case of queries, one can
also write to heartrhythmservices@kauveryhospital.com.
