Dubai: The RAK Hospital has extended life-saving heart treatment without surgery to a medical tourist from Nigeria, setting a new precedent in heart care in the UAE.

The innovative procedure, known as percutaneous balloon dilation technology, not only replaces risk-involved surgeries in many cases, but also helps avoid surgery, the resulting scars, and drastically reduces the recovery window needed by the patient.

Cardiac expert Dr Ajay Kanojia, assisted by Dr Sitaram Radhakrishnan, successfully conducted the non-surgical balloon dilation procedure on the 19-year-old patient’s heart to remove an unnatural overgrowth of tissue — the subaortic membrane — that was obstructing blood flow into his heart, causing immense pain and discomfort for several years.

The Nigerian patient had been suffering from a congenital heart disease, resulting in recurrent blackouts in the past several years. Despite frequent visits to doctors, he could not find any relief for his health problem and, eventually, tests in his home country revealed severe obstruction in the outflow tract of his heart. This rare condition impeded the blood from reaching the heart, and ultimately resulted in a shortage of oxygenated blood in the entire body.

Patients suffering from subaortic membrane experience shortness of breath, fatigue, recurrent blackouts, swelling in legs and face, and difficulty lying on their back. Generally the condition stems from congenital heart disease and worsens over the years, leading to enlargement of the heart and, ultimately, heart failure. Earlier, surgery was the only procedure to excise the subaortic membrane, but now percutaneous or non-surgical method is fast gaining popularity.

The non-surgical procedure is similar to balloon angioplasty, where an empty, collapsed balloon is passed over a wire into the membrane and then inflated to a bigger size, putting pressure on the membrane, forcing it to widen, allowing blood to pass through comfortably into the heart.

“The entire procedure took about 40 to 45 minutes. After initial bed rest, the patient has completely recovered,” Dr Kanojia said.