82-yr-old undergoes rare procedure at city hosp

CHENNAI: In a first-of-its-kind procedure performed in the country, an 82-year-old man with multiple heart valve disease was successfully treated by a city hospital by doing a two ‘valve in valve’ replacement using a transcatheter. A pacemaker was also implanted through transcatheter in the same procedure to resolve slow heart rate, said a release from Kauvery Hospital Chennai. Speaking about the treatment, Dr Aravindan Selvaraj, co-founder and executive director of the hospital said while valve in valve replacement through a transcatheter has been adopted significantly in the West, this was done for the first time in India. It is safer for high risk patients who had already undergone an open heart surgery, he said.