DIBRUGARH, June 16 � In a landmark development, doctors of the cardiothoracic department, Assam Medical College performed their first two open heart surgeries successfully on June 11 and 12, according to delayed reports. The facility for open heart surgery in the Assam Medical College here was established recently.
With this achievement, a new era has ushered in the Assam Medical College for the treatment of cardiac patients of upper Assam and neighbouring States. The lack of this facility constrained the department as many patients had to be sent outside when open heart surgery was required to be done.
It can be recalled here that the Principal Dr Atindra Kumar Adhikari and the Vice Principal, Dr Hem Chandra Kalita had sent a proposal to the ONGC, in the last part of 2012, seeking its help to establish a cardiac cathlab and the facility for open heart surgery . The persistent efforts on the part of the AMC authorities had resulted in a sanction of a grant of seven crore rupees from the ONGC, which has been utilised for a cardiac catheterization laboratory for the Department of Cardiology, restructuring of the cardiothoracic OT along with the procurement of state-of-the-art expensive machines from Germany including Heart Lung machine and Hemotherm for the Department of Cardiothoracic surgery, a press release stated.
A team led by the head of the department of Cardiothoracic surgery Dr Dipak Kumar Bhattacharya which included Dr Mrinmoy Talukdar and Dr Utpal Dutta along with other doctors, sisters, perfusionists and other technical staff from the department successfully performed the intra-cardiac repair of Atrial Septal Defect in two patients suffering from this inborn heart disease.
Other departments from the college including cardiology, anaesthesiology, radiology, blood bank and microbiology supported this effort of the cardiac surgeons of the AMC.
The Department of Cardiology is also doing coronary angiographies regularly in their newly-acquired cardiac catheterization laboratory and the beginning of the open heart surgery has opened the floodgates by giving them the much-needed back up support to start coronary revascularization through coronary angioplasty, the release added.
