The ICAAD (Institute for Cardiac and Advanced Aortic disorders) at SIMS Hospital is specialised in doing highly complex aortic surgeries. Dissecting aneurysm of the aorta is an emergency condition where the main blood vessel (aorta) arising from the heart gets torn from the beginning till the end. If left untreated, the mortality rate is 1 – 2 % every hour for the first 24 hours. To treat it successfully a new procedure called Frozen Elephant Trunk (FET) surgery is done all over the world. This involves use of a special ‘FET graft’ which is not available in India. At SIMS we have successfully treated 25 such patients with this new technique with Indian modifications. The surgical team is led by Dr.V.V.Bashi.
Aortic aneurysm involves a large number of patients in India which needs treatment. Only few specialised centres are available across the country to treat this. Ours is one such centre which gives treatment to all varieties of aortic aneurysms. For aortic dissection and large aneurysms, an old treatment called as ‘classical Elephant Trunk’ procedure was done in the past in two stages requiring two major operations in two different hospital admissions, two months apart. This has a lot disadvantages. Because of this, a new procedure called Frozen Elephant Trunk (FET) procedure is done which reduces the complications and is performed in a single stage in a single hospital admission. But this is highly technically demanding and is performed only in very few centres world-wide. We had performed the first Frozen Elephant Trunk procedure in 2009 and now we have completed 25 successful procedures which is a milestone in our country. To our knowledge no other centre in India is doing this procedure. In western world, this procedure is performed using a special “FET graft” in a hybrid operation theatre. “FET graft” is not available in India and the cost of establishing a hybrid operation theatre in India would be 25 crore rupee. But we modified the technique of surgery using a twin graft and the same procedure is performed in a normal operation theatre with minor modifications. We call this The ‘India’-genious way. By using this technique we can perform the procedure at one tenth of the cost in the Western World., said Dr. Bashi.
While speaking on the occasion Dr. Raju Sivasamy said, “SIMS Hospital has always been a fore runner in embracing new technology; it is a centre of excellence in Cardiothoracic Surgery for patients from all across the globe. Patient safety and outcomes have always been our top priority and we strongly believe technology helps us in achieving that goal. We intend to create awareness amongst the medical fraternity and public alike on the indigenous FET technique to irk interests among more surgeons to learn techniques like this which will in turn save more patient lives”. Dr V V Bashi, who is one of the authority figures in the field of Cardiothoracic surgery in India. He is among the elite group of surgeons who are highly-skilled in treating advanced aortic diseases with FET technique.
