Faith Hospital performs Nagaland’s first femoropopliteal bypass surgery

Staff Reporter
Dimapur, Nov. 11 (EMN): A team of surgeons headed by a super specialist from Chennai – along with doctors from the state – successfully conducted the first femoropopliteal bypass surgery in Nagaland on Friday, Nov. 10 at Faith hospital Dimapur on a 24-year old male patient who was suffering from a blocked artery in his left leg for the last five years.
This first achievement in Nagaland, as maintained by the surgeons, was announced during a press conference held on Saturday at the conference hall of Faith Hospital, Dimapur.
The team of surgeons consisted of Dr. Saravanan Balachandran, M.Ch (Vascular Surgery) along with two surgeons of Faith hospital Dimapur: Dr. Kitaka Wotsa and Dr. Aravind P.
Briefing media persons on Saturday about the medical history of the 24-year old patient, Dr. Wotsa reported that the patient was suffering from Beurger’s disease, also called thromboangitis obliterans, on his left leg for the past four-five years. Gradually, the distance he could walk was forced to be reduced, resulting in his leaving school.
“When the patient first visited the hospital he was unable to even sleep because of the pain, a condition known as ‘rest pain’ (pain in the legs even when patient is at rest) with non-healing ulcers in the leg. A CT angiogram revealed blockage of artery in the thigh. A femoropopliteal bypass was planned. The great saphenous vein was harvested from the legs and the blocked segment of artery was bypassed, thereby restoring blood flow to the lower legs,” explained Dr. Wotsa. The surgery took five hours to complete, it was informed.
Buerger’s disease, briefed Dr. Wotsa, is an inflammation of small and medium sized blood vessels. Although any artery can be affected, it usually presents with blockages of the arteries to the feet and hands, leading to pain and tissue damage.
“Peripheral vascular disease is a disease of blood vessels of the upper and lower limbs which reduces blood flow causing pain, non-healing ulcers and ultimately progressing to gangrene. Without proper treatment the patient ends up with amputation. Among Indian population Beurger’s disease accounts for up to 40-50% of Peripheral vascular disease”, Dr. Balachandran explained.
The surgery at Dimapur’s Faith hospital was conducted at a cost of Rs. 1 lakh, and according to the doctors present at the press conference, the surgery was done at the lowest cost possible – especially when compared costs accrued in other states of the country.
Beurger’s disease is usually seen in young adults less than 50 years of age and is a global disease. Major risk factor are smoking and chewing tobacco while most people with early warning symptoms like pain on walking ignore the symptoms and land up in hospital quite late when the disease has progressed to an advanced level and end up with amputation, cautions the experts.
It is regrettable that patients do not come early and no amount of pain killer will relieve the pain, they pointed out while warning that the risk for developing Buerger’s disease increases when a person smoke heavily.