An extremely sophisticated yet short duration heart valve implant procedure was successfully done at the Viveka Hospital in Nagpur in the first week of September. Subhash (name changed) who is a 68-year-old and lives in Akola was referred to Viveka Hospital in Nagpur when he complained of breathlessness on exertion. On morning of 8th August 2020, he was admitted at Viveka Hospital for further analysis. A relevant batch of tests was done on Subhash that confirmed a condition known as Aortic Stenosis.

Explaining the condition, Dr Prashant Jagtap who is a Senior Consultant and Head of the Interventional Cardiology department at Viveka Hospital said, This is a critical heart condition, in which one of the main valves of the heart that helps maintain the unidirectional flow of the blood to the body, becomes stiff and is unable to function in full capacity. If left untreated, this condition can result in heart failure, stroke and probable death.

With the other long-term health conditions of diabetes and hypertension, an open-heart surgery was an impending risk for Subhash at his age. Considering these variables, the team at Viveka quickly moved to adapt to the more novel procedure of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR). The hospital houses one of the latest high-end flat panels catheter laboratory (cath lab) in central India and the newly launched HYDRA Valve was implanted in Subhash in this lab. The procedure was planned and done by Dr Prashant Jagtap, Dr KG Jayprasanna (senior Cardiac Surgeon and Head CVTS department) along with the entire Heart Team? of the hospital. This stood out as the first HYDRA Valve implant in the entire central India region.

TAVR was first introduced globally in 2002 and is one of the latest and clinically established heart valve implant procedures. It is minimally invasive in nature and does not require opening up the chest of the patient as needed in a traditional open-heart surgery case. The artificial valve is transported and implanted around the bodys own faulty heart valve with the help of a catheter that is entered through a small incision done in the groin region.

TAVR is faster, does not entail a long recovery period and patients have been reported to become symptom free within a very short span of time.
Until a few years ago, there were only two companies globally who were manufacturing TAVR implants. However, with estimates of over a significant percentage of heart patients in India to be needing an aortic valve implant, Indian based medical devices companies like SMT (Sahajanand Medical Technologies) are on the forefront of such cutting edge and outcome based medical device manufacturing.

With over a million patient implants, SMT is a trusted name for the doctors for manufacturing drug eluting coronary stents for over 20 years now. HYDRA is one of the latest implant introductions of the company and is approved by regulatory bodies of India (DCGI) and is CE approved for use in Europe. Hydra comes with the complete clinical benefits of an internationally produced implant along with the cost advantage to the Indian population.

In India, most of the medical expenses are paid out of pocket by the family. Critical conditions like these come suddenly and usually leave the family in an emotional and financial stress. With the use of technologies like Hydra Valve System, some part of the anxiety can be taken off as these new generation implants allows the family to take care of the ailment while keeping the quality aspect intact. At Viveka, we are continuously trying to up our standards in medical care for our patients. We will continue to provide world class service and facilities while keeping a keen eye on evidence based medicine? said Dr Prashant Jagtap.

In a sigh of relief for the family, Subhash is back home and has even resumed his daily routine. The team at Viveka Hospital would continue to monitor him periodically during his scheduled check ups at the hospital.