A medical team at KIMSHEALTH here has successfully performed a complex mitral valve replacement surgery on a 32-year-old from Kollam, who had been suffering from an acute respiratory illness, a statement issued by the hospital said.The patient was referred to the hospital with severe respiratory failure following Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) and was immediately placed on Veno-Venous ECMO (V-V ECMO) to support his respiratory function.Upon further evaluation, the patient was diagnosed with acute severe mitral regurgitation – a condition wherein the heart valve doesn’t close completely, leading to blood leakage – due to chordal rupture.Chordae are thread like structures that connect the mitral valve to the heart muscle, thus keeping the valve in position. Given the critical nature of the patient’s condition, the medical team decided to perform a mitral valve replacement surgery while the patient was still on ECMO.The four-hour-long surgery involved replacing the damaged mitral valve with an artificial one. To stabilise the patient’s blood pressure during the surgery, an Intra-Aortic Balloon Pump (IABP) was also used.“This was a highly complex procedure owing to the patient’s highly critical condition and it required the expertise of a multidisciplinary team,” said Shaji Palangadan, Senior Consultant, Department of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery, who led the surgery. The patient was weaned off the ECMO two days after the surgery and was discharged after a week’s stay at the hospital. He is expected to make a full recovery soon.The successful mitral valve replacement performed on a patient supported by V-V ECMO and IABP marks a significant milestone in cardiac treatment, as there are only a few reported cases of this procedure worldwide, Dr. Palangadan, said in the statement. Published – September 09, 2024 09:57 pm IST