Director Cardiology at Fortis hospital, Mohali Dr Harinder Bali has won the Ironman II contest at the prestigious Asia Pacific Interventional meeting (APVIC VI) held recently at New Delhi.Dr Bali won the honor in challenging case competition wherein more than hundred entries were received. Jury for adjudication for this competition comprised of ten top Interventionists from all over the world.Dr Bali‘s case was a twenty eight years old male patient who had suffered extensive tearing of the aorta – the main artery of human body - involving the entire length of aorta starting from thorax involving abdominal aorta and extending to leg .“What made this case even more challenging was that surgery involved the arteries supplying blood to brain , abdominal organs and also both the kidneys. In a way had the patient not been treated on time, he would have passed away immediately,” said Dr Bali.
He added that the patient had previously undergone open heart surgery for repair of ruptured aorta and aortic valve replacement five years ago. During his present illness he had been to multiple hospitals and was counseled that there was no treatment available to repair the damaged arteries. The patient had been to a number of doctors who refused to perform the surgery due to its complexity.Dr Bali and his team repaired the entire diseased artery by using two large aortic covered Stents. To maintain blood supply to brain, two additional stent grafts were deployed. “This challenging case was the first of its kind to be performed in the world due to number of complexities involved including the precarious health of patient,” he said. Dr Bali said that his colleagues from the Department of cardiac surgery, anesthesia and radiology played a crucial role in the planning and execution of this two staged procedure wherein each stage was spread over four hours.
Dr Bali added that such procedures will in future be useful for patients with complex aortic diseases which hitherto are considered in operable. At the yearly meeting of APVIC more than 500 top interventional cardiologists, vascular surgeons and interventional radiologists from India and a number of countries including USA, Australia and Far East participated.