Woman with hole in heart gets a new lease of life

Mangaluru: City-based A J Hospital & Research Centre has closed a hole in the heart of a woman.
Tejaswini, 30, from Belthangady, with a history of recurrent strokes was referred to Dr R Purushotham, consultant interventional cardiologist, for cardiac evaluation. On evaluation, she was diagnosed to have a hole in the heart or patent foramen ovale (PFO), which results in intermittent mixing of arterial (pure) and venous (impure) blood.This can cause propagation of blood clots to the brain (paradoxical embolism).
She was subjected to a series of non-invasive tests and the intermittent mixing of pure and impure blood was documented by means of Transesophageal and Contrast Echocardiography. The hole was successfully closed using an Amplatzer device (PFO device closure).
The procedure was successfully done by a team comprising Dr R Purushotham, Dr Prem Alva, paediatric interventional cardiologist, and Dr Gururaj Tantry, cardiac anesthetist. The procedure lasted for 45 minutes and the patient was discharged on the next day of the procedure and is now on a regular follow-up with neurologist Dr Rajesh Shetty.
Dr Prashanth Marla K, medical director, said PFO is a hole that is present in the fetal stages of life to ensure adequate mixture of blood when the lungs are not fully developed. The hole is known to close spontaneously in more than 75% of people soon after birth.
For most people with PFO, it is not a problem even though blood is leaking from right atrium to the left atrium. Problems arise when the leaked blood from the right atrium contains blood clots and they escape into the blood stream. These blood clots can cause obstruction to the blood flow, mainly to the brain, causing stroke/transient ischemic attack and migraine, he said.