 |
 |
| |
He has given them all a fresh lease of life
Early detection, surgery vital for Fallot's Tetralogy (four disorders); tongue, nails of patients turn blue.
Coimbatore : P. Sashikumar has lived with four disorders (tetralogy) in his heart since birth. For 21 years, he could not walk or run or more than a few yards, and impure blood rushed up to his brain from his legs and turned hil giddy. Yet, he completed his B.Com at his hometown of Vellore.
After a surgery at the KG Hospital, to correct the problem called Fallot's Tetralogy, he ho hopes to do his Masters in Bussiness Administration. His father is a lorry driver, and older brother, a lorry mechanic. Sashikumar is among the young persons who owe their new lease of life to cardiac surgeon. T. Jayarama Pai.
Breathlessness
The tongue and nails of children with this problem turn blue. They cannot run or walk briskly for long. They experience breathlessness and sit hunched so that the impure blood will not rush up from their legs to the brain. When de-oxygenated blood goes to the brain, the patients experience giddiness. "This is an involuntary effort. All these people know is that this posture gives them relief. Actually, the flow is cut off when they bend the legs upward at the hip, says Dr. Pai.
A hole in the left lower chamber of the heart (ventricle), thickening of the ventricle and narrowing of the cavity, blood flow to the lung being affected, and the aorta wrongly positioned over both ventricles form a group of four disorders in such patients.
Pure, impure blood
"When both pure and impure blood get pumped into the aorta, the child turns blue," says Dr. Pai. In such a situation, the hemoglobin shoots up from the normal level of 14 to 21 or 23 to overcome de-oxygenation of the blood.
This results in the blood getting thick like a paste, and causes cerebral thrombosis. According o the surgeon, 25 percent of the surgically untreated infants die before they are one-year-old. Forty percent die by the time they are three, 70 percent before the age of 10 and 95 percent die by the time they are 40.
Growth Hit
"The blue baby cannot suckle, cannot walk, and growth will be hit. The paediatrician's role is vital in detecting the problem," Dr. Pai points out. He has so far operated 26 patients in the hospital, ranging from a one-and-a-half-old boy to a man aged 43.
Centres
There are 26 centres in the country that perform the surgery to correct this defect, says the Chairman of the hospital, G. Bakthavathsalam. This hospital is among the two in the city that does it.
Dr. Pai says financial problems hold back many patients from the surgery that costs around Rs.75,000. To get around this problem and save precious lives, he asks medical equipment firms to provide disposables, including those in the heart lung machine, free of cost.
Besides, the pharmaceutical companies too are requested for free drugs. This reduces the cost burden substantially.
Managing funds
"We ask the families to arrange for at least Rs.20,000, but only if they can manage it. Otherwise funds are worked out through voluntary organizations, he says.
Dr. Pai always has chocolates with him - all for his young patients. M. Umadevi, daughter of a mill worker, is one of the beneficiaries - of both the chocolates and the surgery that enables her to go to school and play without becoming tired.
"She is off medication for more than a year, "Dr. Pai says, stressing the importance of early detection and surgery.
- The Hindu, April 24, 2006.
|
|
|
|
|