Expat with rare heart disorder gets life-saving surgery

An expatriate suffering from a rare cardiac disorder was saved by a timely surgery by surgeons of Zulekha Hospital, Sharjah.

Babul Rana Jalil Molla, a 46-year-old expatriate, got admitted to the hospital with a hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy, a condition he has been suffering for several years.

“Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a genetic disorder leading to the thickening of the cardiac muscles. This causes obstruction in the outflow of blood from the heart, causing breathing difficulties,” said specialist interventional cardiologist Dr Rupesh Singh.

Medicine can only play a limited role in a mechanical obstruction. “There are two ways to correct this obstruction — one is to surgically remove excessive thickening of the muscle via open heart surgery, which is a complex procedure and not readily available. The second is to burn excessive muscle by selectively injecting chemicals into the arteries. It is a demanding and complex procedure but once completed, the patient is able to regain their normal life percutaneously after 48 hours. In this process, doctors introduce a small cannula into the arteries supplying blood to excessively thickened muscles, and then inject chemicals to induce necrosis to reduce muscle thickness.”

Dr Singh added: “Molla’s case is one of the many reasons behind establishing a state-of-the-art cardiac treatment facility at Zulekha Hospital Sharjah. Our cath lab is equipped with the latest technology and equipment to perform complex cardiac cases and improve the lives of cardiac patients. We’re very proud to successfully treat such a rare cardiac case, and the patient was discharged without any complications.”

Molla was monitored in the hospital for five days for any complications and was discharged with improved symptoms.

Source : Gulf news