Doctors at Rashid Hospital succeeded in saving the life of an 82-year-old who suffered from a heart attack and heart failure.
The patient was immediately transferred to Rashid Hospital after feeling a sharp pain in his chest and had trouble breathing at Dubai Airport while transiting from the UK to Nigeria.
Dr Fahd Baslaib, interventional cardiologist and CEO of Rashid Hospital, said that further tests including an echo test found that the patient was suffering from aortic stenosis, which is one of the most serious valve disease problems. Aortic stenosis is a narrowing of the aortic valve opening, restricting the blood flow from the heart to the rest of the body.
“We informed the patient that he had to replace the aortic valve using angiography, which is a minimally invasive, endovascular procedure to implant a new valve or to replace the diseased aortic valve,” said Dr Baslaib.
“But the patient opted to go back to the UK and get the surgery done there. So we stabilised him and he travelled to the UK.”
Aortic valve replacement
Two months later the patient came back to Rashid Hospital, where he informed the cardiology team that he wants to get the procedure done with them.
“I wanted to do the procedure in Rashid Hospital because I was happy with the medical care I received and during the consultations I had in the UK, I felt that I am more comfortable here,” said W.A. who added that upon researching, he found that the hospital was a centre of excellence for Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI).
The patient was readmitted to Rashid Hospital, where his case was further studied before performing the complex procedure.
“The UK report stated that the patient’s main arteries were in good condition but the echo test showed that he in fact had severe stenosis, not only in his main coronary arteries, but also his left carotid artery, which is one of the two major arteries that carry oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the brain,” said Dr Baslaib.
With this new finding Rashid Hospital doctors advised the patient that an open-heart surgery was needed and that an angiography was too risky. However the patient refused, insisting that he wanted all three issues resolved through the minimally invasive procedure.
Dr Baslaib said that due to the high complexity of the case, the patient was treated in three phases.
“I led the heart team in performing an angioplasty and stenting of the major coronary arteries to widen the obstructed arteries including the left main artery with three stents to decrease their chances of narrowing again. After four days, Dr Ayman Al Sibaei, interventional radiologist at Rashid Hospital, and his team performed an angioplasty and stenting of the left carotid artery,” said Dr Baslaib.
After five days, Dr Baslaib and Jasim Al Hashimi, Head of Cardiology at Dubai Hospital, led the TAVI team, which consists of doctors from both Rashid and Dubai Hospitals to perform the TAVI procedure (the cardiac surgery and vascular surgery teams were on standby).
Dr Baslaib explained that TAVI is a procedure that allows an aortic valve to be implanted using a long narrow tube called a catheter.
All three procedures were successful and the patient was discharged in good health.
The 82-year-old is back in Nigeria with his family, from where he reached out to the cardiology team in Rashid Hospital and thanked them for saving his life.
